Metro-North Railroad president to retire: WSJ

(Reuters) - Metro-North Railroad President Howard Permut is expected to retire by the end of this month, as the company faces federal pressure to ramp up its safety systems after a deadly train crash in December, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. Permut who has served as Metro-North's president since 2008, will be succeeded by Joseph Giulietti, the executive director of the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, the Journal said, citing officials familiar with the matter. (http://r.reuters.com/new75v) Metro-North Railroad could not be reached for comment by Reuters outside of regular U.S. business hours. Last month, federal regulators launched a 60-day safety assessment of Metro-North, operator of the train that derailed on December 1 as it entered a sharp curve in New York's Bronx borough, killing four people and injuring 70 others. The December train derailment was the latest in a string of problems last year for Metro-North, the second busiest U.S. commuter railroad in terms of monthly ridership. The accident marked the first customer fatality in Metro-North's three-decade history and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates Metro-North, called it a "black day" for the railroad. (Reporting by Natalie Grover and Zeba Siddiqui in Bangalore; Editing by Supriya Kurane)