Steven Del Duca, Minister of Transportation, released the following statement:
“It is critical for Metrolinx to have experienced leadership as Ontario undertakes the largest transit expansion in our country’s history. To that end, I would like to extend a warm welcome to the new President and CEO of Metrolinx, Phil Verster, who has been appointed by the Metrolinx Board of Directors and will start October 1, 2017.
It is clear from Mr. Verster’s leadership running one of the largest and busiest rail services in Europe that he will be a strong asset here in Ontario. In the United Kingdom, Mr. Verster was a Managing Director of Britain’s Network Rail, running Scotland’s railway operations, the ScotRail Alliance, and initiating work on the East West Railway, a new rail line linking Britain’s high tech corridor between Oxford and Cambridge. During his time in these roles, Mr. Verster oversaw major transit builds – expanding the Scottish electrified rail network, while also overseeing the operation of more than 2,100 train services every weekday.
His previous experience will serve him well at a time when Ontario is undertaking the largest commuter rail project in Canada. We are building new rapid transit lines across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA), boosting our service from 1,500 trains to 6,000 trains per week, electrifying core segments of the GO network and bringing two-way, all-day service to more communities than ever before.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. John Jensen for his leadership as the interim CEO of Metrolinx and throughout his successful tenure at the agency.
I trust that Mr. Verster and the entire Metrolinx team will continue to deliver the more frequent and more convenient transit service that commuters and families in the GTHA are counting on, and I look forward to continuing to work with his team to build a better connected region.”
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