Pete Tomlin
Pete Tomlin is an expert in transit signalling systems, who was employed by both the Toronto Transit Commission, the New York City Transit Authority, Hong Kong and the London Underground.

Tomlin was responsible for installing the signal system on London's Jubilee line, in 1997, and the West Rail and Ma On Shan subway lines in Hong Kong, before coming to Toronto to upgrade the signal system on the Yonge-University Line.

Andy Byford, who became the General Manager of New York's MTA, after five years as General Manager of the TTC, in 2017, would hire Tomlin, who had worked under him in Toronto, in January 2019. Byford described his hiring of Tomlin as a "coup", because multiple other systems had also wanted to hire him. According to the "New York Daily News" it was his expertise in upgrading the signal infrastructure subways use that put him in demand. Many major cities share the problem of their most used lines approaching, or occasionally exceeding, their maximum passenger carrying capacity. Improving the signals system, so trains can run closer together, thus more frequently, can increase a subway line's passenger capacity, postponing the day they needed to be supplemented by new parallel lines.

Tomlin was hired during the middle of a hiring freeze.

According to "The Globe and Mail" Tomlin had overseen modernization of the signal systems of both London and Hong Kong's subway systems, prior to coming to Toronto.

In describing the challenge of gradually replacing a subway line's signals system, while it is still in use, Tomlin said "“A colleague of mine once described it like … conducting open-heart surgery on a 100-year-old person while he’s eating his lunch.”"

Byford had repeatedly clashed with Governor Andrew Cuomo, and finally resigned, on January 15, 2020. Tomlin resigned nine days later, on January 24, 2020.
Q17978
Toronto Transit Commission
ORG
Q1325591
New York City Transit Authority
ORG
Q8646
Hong Kong
LOC
Q20075
London Underground
Concept
Q961290
Jubilee line
Concept
Q989369
West Rail
LOC
Q989335
Ma On Shan
MEDIA
Q8646
Hong Kong
LOC
Q54369
Yonge-University Line
Concept
Q4760483
Andy Byford
PER
Q627827
New York Daily News
MEDIA
Q604525
The Globe and Mail
MEDIA
Q84
London
LOC
Q8646
Hong Kong
LOC
Q172
Toronto
LOC
Q2347975
Governor
PER
Q11673
Andrew Cuomo
PER
Q84984054
Pete Tomlin
PER
1997-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1997
DATE
2017-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2017
DATE
2019-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
January 2019
DATE
2020-01-15T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
January 15, 2020
DATE
2020-01-24T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
January 24, 2020
DATE
headquarters location
position held