Szabo’s CMAP appointment was confirmed by Railway Age Contributing Editor Frank N. Wilner, who obtained a copy of an email from CMAP Executive Director Randall S. Blankenhorn to various colleagues:
“I am pleased to announce that Joe Szabo will be joining the CMAP staff as a Senior Fellow beginning in January 2015. Joe is currently the Administrator for the Federal Railroad Administration, where he has served since April 2009. Many of you will remember him as the former mayor of Riverdale, Illinois, and in that capacity he served as vice chair of our Council of Mayors executive committee. Joe also served on the Chicago Metropolis 2020 executive council and as a member of the Metropolitan Planning Council.
“Joe brings a long history of transportation and local government experience to this position. As a Senior Fellow, which is a two-year appointment, he will play a leadership role in major policy-related projects that include infrastructure funding, coordination with local officials to develop and implement policies, and development of national transportation policy in cooperation with other major metropolitan regions and our national associations. Joe’s experience in freight, public transit, and intercity rail will also strengthen our role on these issues.
“We look forward to Joe’s return to the Chicago region and to having him on the CMAP staff.”
In recent months it has been speculated that Szabo could be departing the FRA. Railway Age first broke the news that Szabo’s job was in jeopardy following his attempt to mandate two-person crews (see Frank Wilner’s April 11, 2014 blog, “Data drought haunts FRA crew-size mandate.” See also “Is FRA’s Szabo headed to the STB?” Sept. 29, 2014).
Joe Szabo is the 12th Federal Railroad Administrator (FRA) and was the first to come from the ranks of rail workers. He is a fifth-generation railroader who for many years worked commuter and freight trains as a conductor in the greater Chicago area. From 2006 to 2009, Szabo was Vice President of the Illinois AFL-CIO. He served as Mayor of Riverdale, Illinois, a member of the South Suburban Mayors Transportation Committee, and Vice Chairman of the Chicago Area Transportation Study’s Executive Committee. In 2002, he chaired the Governor’s Freight Rail Subcommittee and, in 2005, was assigned by the United Transportation Union International to the FRA’s Railroad Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC), where he participated in the development of rail safety regulations. Szabo has served on the Executive Council of Chicago Metropolis 2020, focusing on Land Use Planning and Transportation issues and was a member of the Chicagoland Metropolitan Planning Council.
In 2013, Szabo received Railway Age’s W. Graham Claytor Jr. Award for Distinguished service to Passenger Transportation.