NEWARK, N.J. — NJ Transit has fired its head of construction management, who was overseeing the $2.3 billion Portal North Bridge project, NorthJersey.com reports.
Mohammad Nasim told the news site he was given no reason for his firing last week other than being an “at will” employee, and was escorted out of the transit agency’s Newark headquarters by police. Nasim called it “a very unfair decision” and said the Federal Transit Administration and the project’s contractor were among those “shocked” by the move. Nasim had been hired by NJ Transit in 2021 after previously working for Amtrak on the Gateway program. The Portal North Bridge — to replace the current Portal Bridge over the Hackensack River between Kearny and Secaucus, N.J., a longtime Northeast Corridor operating headache — is part of the larger Gateway infrastructure project.
NJ Transit spokesman Jim Smith confirmed Nasim’s departure but did not answer NorthJersey.com questions about the firing. He said the agency had “designated an internal replacement … and the transition will be seamless.”
Nasim told NorthJersey.com he has raised concerns about the project, including a need for more support staff for the contractor and settlement issues from construction. That settling could affect the track alignment of the existing bridge and catenary structures. Nasim said his concerns were ignored and that he was told to “shut up” about them by another NJ Transit staff member at one meeting. “It was totally unfair,” Nasim said. “I don’t know why NJ Transit took such a drastic step. It was totally uncalled for.”
The current Portal Bridge — a 113-year-old swing bridge that often has to be sledgehammered back into place after openings — was back in the news when it was opened Oct. 11 during the evening rush hour to let a “tide-restricted commercial vessel” pass, leading to Amtrak and commuter-train delays of about 20 minutes, NJ.com reports. Such openings were basically ended by regulations adopted in 2019 [see “Coast Guard to make permanent ban …,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 2, 2019], but the ship involved last week was exempt from those rules.
When you come in under budget one year, you not only didn’t spend it that year, you won’t get it the next year either. That’s why a good bureaucrat always spends all the money in his budget. A lot of furniture gets bought in the last quarter of the fiscal year.
With our corrupt out of control government Mr. Rice may be correct. It’ll be interesting to see what happens next.
Could it be work is going too fast? Announced that work was already 25% complete. At that rate bridge would be finished well under original scheduled finish.
Possible. A friend of mine, newly hired out of college was nearly fired because he finished a government contract 18 months too soon. Because he finished, the government contractor couldn’t bill out the entire time for the project with its built in margins.
They gave him a new project, told it was scheduled to be complete in 8 months and that he was to finish it in the allotted time.
He finished it in 3 weeks and quit shortly after.
So yes, it is possible that there is some padding in the project cost people are trying to protect, or worse several unions complaining that he was taking away their billable hours by moving so fast.
Being New Jersey says it all…
This should be taken up with the NJTransit Inspector General or NJDOT Inspector General.
However, being an “at will” employee, they don’t need a reason to discharge him, they just can, hence the term “at will”. Even for political reasons.