The Corridor ID Changemaker

An unexpected career led Joe Black, senior vice president of transit and rail operations and service planning at WSP, to a transformative purpose – increasing intercity passenger rail service across the country.

United States | Monday, September 23, 2024
Reading Time : 4:04 minutes

When Joe Black took a part-time job as a Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) ticket agent, it launched a remarkable career of making cities more livable by improving their modes of transit. Today, as WSP’s point person on the new Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) Corridor Identification and Development (Corridor ID) Program, he’s guiding clients — and the country — into a bright future of new intercity rail travel.

What is your role at WSP?

Honestly, I play with trains! I lead a team with extensive rail backgrounds as operators and maintainers, service planners, and operations simulation modelers. We mainly assist clients with rail service planning and operations consulting. And then I have a second day job, which is rail corridor development, which speaks directly to the Corridor Identification and Development Program opportunities presented by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).

What is the Corridor ID Program and what does its success look like?

The Corridor ID Program is a new federal grant program under the auspices of FRA to develop intercity passenger rail throughout the country and create a pipeline of projects that are ready to implement. It’s a first step toward more transportation options and better regional connectivity that provides people better access to employment opportunities, education, medical appointments, recreation and more. There’s just so much good stuff that will come out of it.

We’re helping clients get there with a focused approach to the program. When FRA announced their corridor selections, there were a total of 69 scattered across the country. We created a decision support matrix with different factors that helped us focus on just those where we could field the right mix of people and experience, opportunities where we know the work, the client and the issues.

Joe Black between calibration rides to support simulation modeling efforts at Dallas Area Rapid Transit.

How are you involved with the industry outside of WSP?

I’m involved in American Public Transportation Association, American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association and other organizations. I sit on the Texas Rail Passenger Advisory Committee, too. I am also honored to have been recently appointed to the Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) first Passenger Rail Committee. With the BIL’s passage, STB is charged with monitoring freight railroad performance and how it impacts passenger rail service operating over host freight railroads. It’s an incredible group of diverse industry interests brought together in the same room for the first time and I’m excited to get to work. Our first meeting is in October.

Joseph Black

Senior Vice President, Transit and Rail Operations and Service Planning

United States

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I think of transit and rail as a utility, like the electric company, the water company, along with police, fire and sanitation. If you don’t have all of it, you don't have livable cities.

Touring a new Caltrain electric multiple unit train at a recent APTA conference.

What inspires you about your work and your career?

I never intended to be in this career. My degree at Villanova was in political science, and I minored in Russian – it was the Cold War, after all. Then, as a student, I got a part time job as a ticket agent at SEPTA. I would go to class every day and then walk down to the train station to do my shift. When the time came to graduate, my line manager came to me and said, “Hey, you're going to have a bachelor’s degree, how would you like to manage one of the big downtown ticket offices?” I thought I could do that while figuring out what I wanted to do when I grew up.

As time went by, I started to really understand what an important role public transportation plays in making cities livable. I’ve never looked back. I think of transit and rail as a utility, like the electric company, the water company, along with police, fire and sanitation. If you don’t have all of it, you don't have livable cities. I just find it incredibly inspiring to be part of making a better future.

What are some of the impactful projects you’ve been a part of?

The projects I’m most proud of have come to fruition in the last few years. A great example is the East Side Access project, which brought Long Island Railroad trains into Grand Central Station. I worked hard on that in the early 2000s. To see it open and in operation is just incredible. Other noteworthy projects I’ve been involved with include the Amtrak Gateway program, Southern California Regional Rail Authority’s Positive Train Control program, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s Silver Line Extension and the Lone Star Regional Rail project in Central Texas.

Why do you enjoy working at WSP?

I came to WSP because of the talented people on this team, many of whom I had the privilege of working with over the years in other capacities. The culture here supports working across business lines, being creative and bringing in people who are right for the role, no matter where they sit on an org chart. I haven't seen that anywhere else. I consider WSP one of the best career decisions I’ve made, and I’m really happy to be here.