TALL ORDER

RAILWAY AGE, NOVEMBER 2020 ISSUE: Light rail/streetcars, rapid transit, regional/commuter rail: Canada’s GTHA (Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area) in Ontario Province has it all, and under the auspices of Metrolinx, has been aggressively investing billions in new builds and expansion.

Metrolinx is now under the leadership of President and CEO Phil Verster, a South Africa native and global rail industry veteran who came to Canada after having managed train operations and infrastructure builds and management for passenger rail systems in England, Scotland and Ireland. An engineer by training, Verster holds a Bachelor’s of Engineering and a Master’s of Engineering, both from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa, as well as an MBA from the University of Newcastle Business School and an LLM Post Graduate Diploma (Commercial Law) from the University of Northumbria, both in the U.K. 

Phil Verster began his career in the electricity sector in his native South Africa. From 2001 to 2003, he was Depot Manager and Production Director for a U.K. division of Bombardier Rail. In 2003, he moved from the supplier side to passenger rail operations at Southeastern Trains. He then spent five years at Irish Rail, where he served in different roles, including Deputy CEO.

In 2011, Verster joined Britain’s Network Rail, where he was Managing Director, London North East and East Midlands Route. He is credited with having “pioneered a new approach to structured continuous improvement that delivered improved safety and train performance as well as an enhanced passenger experience.” Verster then ran Scotland’s ScotRail passenger rail service from 2015 to 2017. In early 2017, he served as Managing Director of Network Rail’s East West Railway.

Verster was drawn to Canada and Metrolinx because he relishes challenge, he said during Railway Age’s Oct. 27 “Rail Insights Canada” virtual conference. The agency, which in size and scope of activities can be compared to the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority but has a rather different approach to capital projects—namely, P3s—works with federal, provincial and municipal partners, the private sector and other stakeholders “to create an integrated transportation system that would support a higher quality of life, a more prosperous economy and a healthier environment.” The agency has embarked upon its 2041 Regional Transportation Plan, described as “the largest transportation investment in Ontario’s history and one of the largest in North America.”

“By 2041, more than 10 million people will live in the region—comparable to Paris or London,” Metrolinx notes. “We continue working toward delivering an integrated, regional transportation system with a mix of buses, streetcars, light rail, heavy rail and subways that will serve the needs of residents and businesses for years to come.”

“The really exciting thing about Canada I found after I joined was how enthusiastic communities, especially those in the GTHA, are about transit, which is such a huge economic enabler,” Verster said. Through the P3 process, of which there are several iterations, massive projects can take less time to attain revenue service and have a greater chance of coming in within budget. Verster believes in the “carrot approach,” as opposed to the “stick approach,” where the consortiums that provide the designing, engineering, construction, financing, operation and maintenance are provided with incentives that will help ensure a profitable venture. 

Do politics get in the way of transit progress in Canada? Of course—what public transportation program in any part of the world isn’t political to some extent? Canada is not immune from political meddling (think of the late, eccentric Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and his brother Doug, currently Premier of Ontario, both of whom were/are decidedly anti-rail-transit, or at least anti-light rail). But egocentric characters who don’t appear to focus on the greater good like the Ford brothers are anomalies in a region, indeed a nation, that is willing to make the investments and create the long-term plans that support rail transit and the economic, social and environmental benefits it brings. 

Canadians, it is said, are deeply concerned with sustainability, not only for themselves, but generations to come.