Catherine Rinaldi was named interim president of the Long Island Rail Road in February 2022. She was appointed the sixth president of MTA Metro-North on Feb. 21, 2018 and is the first woman to hold that position.
Rinaldi took the lead in completing three LIRR mega-projects upon taking her new role; opening the Main Line Third Track and Grand Central Madison in addition to the soon-to-be-completed LIRR 33rd street concourse at Penn Station.
The opening of Grand Central Madison and the Main Line Third Track increased service levels by 41% and created greatly enhanced reverse-peak service on the Port Jefferson and Ronkonkoma Branches, a boon to Long Island’s economy.
Rinaldi announced the start of two-way service at Elmont-UBS station – the first new LIRR station to open in almost 50 years, providing full-time service to both UBS Arena and the Elmont community.
The new LIRR concourse features more light, space and train information for customers and is an early step towards turning Penn Station into a new transportation destination in the heart of Manhattan.
Rinaldi has overseen a host of customer-facing initiatives including a sweeping package of accessibility upgrades that will make seven Long Island Rail Road stations in Queens and Nassau and Suffolk Counties fully accessible for the first time while replacing elevators at two additional LIRR stations. The elevator upgrades will bring to 116 the number of the LIRR’s 126 stations that are accessible to all, or 92%.
She also oversaw the launch of the new TrainTime – integrating LIRR and Metro-North service into one convenient app that also enables customers to buy tickets including the new Combo-Tickets which allows riders to use both railroads with just one ticket.
The app shows how many people are on each car so riders can board a car with the most available seats.
Rinaldi’s previous positions within the MTA include chief of staff and counsel to the MTA chairman, from 2011 through 2014; vice president and general counsel at Long Island Rail Road, from 2008 to 2011; and deputy executive director and general counsel at MTA headquarters, from 2003 until 2006.
Rinaldi was named the 2018 Woman of the Year by the Greater New York Chapter of the Women’s Transportation Seminar.
She is a summa cum laude graduate of Yale and received her law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.