Fed rail pro is tapped for MTA
A former federal railroad official is one of Gov. Cuomo's picks for the MTA board.
Sarah Feinberg, the exchief of the Federal Railroad Administration under former President Barack Obama, was nominated by Cuomo on Thursday.
Feinberg accompanied Cuomo and engineering academics from Columbia and Cornell universities on a midnight tour of the Canarsie Tunnel beneath the East River in December to figure out if it could be repaired without shutting down the L train.
She was also a judge in the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Genius Challenge, which gave out $2.5 million in awards for ideas and technology to improve subway service.
Before heading the federal railroad agency, Feinberg had a career in communications, with jobs at Facebook and Bloomberg LP, according to her LinkedIn profile. She then became chief of staff to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx in the Obama administration.
Feinberg ran the federal rail agency until January 2017.
If approved by the state Senate, Feinberg would take the seat vacated last week when real estate developer Scott Rechler resigned. Rechler left the board to avoid a conflict of interest because his firm, RXR Realty, is involved in the redevelopment of the Grand Hyatt hotel next door to Grand Central Terminal.
Counting the seat to which Feinberg is nominated, six spots are open on the MTA board.
One of those seats is the chairmanship, which has been vacant since Joseph Lhota's resignation in November. Three more seats await nominees — those representing Dutchess and Rockland counties, and a seat representing the Long Island Rail Road Commuter Council. Earlier this month, Cuomo nominated real estate developer David Mack to a seat representing Nassau County.