Jim O’Leary’s passenger-train empire is about to get a little bit bigger in 2025 now that his Boston company, Alternate Concepts Inc., has won a contract to operate the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail system in New Jersey.
New Jersey Transit’s board recently awarded the 15-year, $1.5 billion contract to a joint venture between O’Leary’s company and Herzog Transit Services, a Missouri-based train company. The ACI-Herzog venture, established in 2007 to run trains in Puerto Rico, will take over in New Jersey in 2025 for an operator affiliated with construction and infrastructure giant AECOM, with the transition wrapping up by mid-September.
The victory was particularly sweet for O’Leary because he had bid unsuccessfully to run the New Jersey system around 25 years ago alongside what was then known as Perini Construction of Framingham. The 20-mile line runs mostly along the Hudson River, connecting several New Jersey communities across from New York City. The original intent was to connect New Jersey commuters to Manhattan-bound trains, but O’Leary said many passengers are using it now to simply commute around that part of New Jersey, in part because of all the construction the line spurred.
“It’s an interesting story about how transit investment can drive development,” O’Leary said. “They made that investment, and lo and behold, all these condominiums and office buildings started being built.”
ACI’s other train operations contracts include systems in Colorado, Maryland, Arizona, and Connecticut. But will O’Leary go after the big prize in his home state? Maybe. ACI previously operated the MBTA’s commuter rail system as part of a consortium with Transdev and Bombardier, before Keolis won that contract in 2014.
Now, the MBTA is preparing to put that contract out to bid again, and is still trying to figure out its scope. “We’re looking at it,” O’Leary said. “I’ve said I really need to understand the terms and conditions.”
This is an installment of our weekly Bold Types column about movers and shakers on Boston’s business scene.
Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto.