Tierney Joins HNTB

Timothy Tierney

Veteran freight railroad operating executive Tim Tierney, P.E., has joined HNTB as a Senior Project Director and Rail Industry Technical Advisor, a role in which he “will leverage his wealth of experience in the rail and freight logistics industry to advise clients on various large scale railroad operations, design and construction projects.”

Tierney, who previously served as Conrail Shared Assets LLC President and Chief Operating Officer, spent more than 40 years at the railroad, from when it was a Class I carrier through its reorganization as a Surface Transportation Board-ordered neutral Class III S&T (switching and terminal) railroad owned jointly by Norfolk Southern and CSX following their 58%/42% split of “Big Conrail” in 1999. Over the course of his career, Tierney worked in various supervisory and management positions across the Conrail system, advancing through roles with progressively more responsibility within the railroad’s engineering department, including Division Engineer of the Buffalo, Albany, and Philadelphia divisions. Between 1996 and 1999, he worked assignments at Philadelphia headquarters, culminating as Chief Engineer-System during the planning, transition and implementation of Conrail’s acquisition by CSX and Norfolk Southern.

In 2017, after a nearly two decades as Vice President and Chief Engineer, he became President and COO following Ron Batory’s retirement and appointment as Federal Railroad Administrator. Tierney’s responsibilities included all rail operations, dispatching, engineering, mechanical and customer service for Conrail’s three operating territories—Northern New Jersey, Southern New Jersey/Philadelphia and Detroit.

In addition to his extensive experience in railroad operations, Tierney is described as “highly knowledgeable in contract management, freight logistics, and FRA requirements and operational compliance, and has been involved in grant writing for federally funded projects.” He is a licensed professional engineer in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan. Tierney received a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Norwich University and a Master of Science degree in Engineering Management from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. 

“Tim brings an impressive level of leadership, rail expertise and proven industry experience to this role and I am pleased to welcome him to our team,” said HNTB Eastern U.S. Rail and Transit Leader Greg May P.E.. “His decades of working at all levels of an organization and on all aspects of railroad operations, engineering, design and construction, management and executive experience will bring significant value to HNTB and our clients.”