AASHTO names Giulietti to chair rail council

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) announced yesterday it has appointed Connecticut Department of Transportation Commissioner Joseph Giulietti to serve a two-year term as chair of the organization's Council on Rail.

The rail council addresses policy, regulatory, safety, operations and investment issues that states encounter when developing freight- and passenger-rail systems.

Giulietti was appointed by Gov. Ned Lamont in December 2018 to lead Connecticut's transportation department. Prior to that appointment, Giulietti started his transportation career with MTA Metro-North Railroad in 1983, departing in 1998 to lead Florida's Tri-Rail system. In 2014, Giulietti returned to Metro-North to serve as president not long after a fatal Metro-North train derailment on the Hudson Line near the Spuyten-Duyvil station in the Bronx, New York.

Guilietti is credited with restoring Metro-North's reputation, after federal officials cited the commuter railroad with safety deficiencies, AASHTO officials said.