Three years ago, Jay Walder abruptly resigned as MTA Chairman and CEO, to lead Hong Kong's MTR mass transit system. Now, he's being forced to leave a year ahead of his planned exit date because of "poor judgment" over how he handled a very important high-speed rail project between Hong Kong and China.
Walder was nearly universally well-liked and respected by other leaders in NYC (except for the Transit Workers Union, natch) but received an offer of over $1 million in annual salary and bonus to be the chief executive of the MTR. He made $1.56 million in 2012.
Hong Kong's MTR, a private-public company, has traditionally been very profitable (for the first half of 2013, its profit was over half a billion US dollars)—and very serious about its first-class status. The September 2013 Wall Street Journal pointed out, "A subway system with a 99.9% on-time rate would be a source of pride in most cities. In famously efficient Hong Kong, it elicits an explanation from the director of operations: 'Zero delay is difficult to achieve on any railway system,' he said in a recent service update."
However, a series of unfortunate incidents followed: In December 2013, a train broke down on the Tseung Kwan O Line—passengers had to walk through the subway tracks and the system was shut down for five hours. Then, in February, the South China Morning Post reports, "faulty insulators on overheard wires caused seven hours of delays over two days on the East Rail Line." Finally, it was revealed that much-anticipated high-speed link between Guangzhou and Hong Kong would be two years late—totally normal for the MTA, but unacceptable to the MTR. From the WSJ:
The high-speed rail line will be the first to connect Hong Kong to mainland China but it failed to keep to its tight completion schedule as costs ballooned. The project is now expected to cost more than US$10 billion and could be delayed by two years to 2017. The project was hit by a growing series of problems, such as flooding caused by a big rainstorm that damaged a crucial tunnel-boring machine.
On Wednesday, MTR's independent nonexecutive directors said in a report that managers involved in the project did a poor job communicating information about the delays inside the company and to the public. The report also said that Mr. Walder, as the CEO, "should have exercised more critical judgment" in monitoring the progress of the express railway project given its importance to the government and the public.
After fallout from the delay of the high-speed rail, Walder said he'd step down at the end of 2015, but now he's leaving in August. MTR Chairman Raymond Chien Kuo-fung said, "We are not saying at all that Mr Walder is not competent to handle the CEO duties"
Link: http://gothamist.com/2014/07/17/ex-mta_ceo_jay_walder_leaves_hong_k.php
