Lundberg said yesterday he had nothing to add to Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad's announcement of his resignation for the time being.
"I think it's best to leave it at that right now," he said.
Lundberg's resignation and the appointment of James O'Leary as general manager until a permanent replacement can be found were both announced in Thursday press release.
O'Leary, who did not return several phone messages yesterday seeking comment, is president of the Boston-based Alternate Concepts Inc., which is a partner in Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad, a three-company consortium created in 2002 specifically to bid on the MBTA's commuter rail contract.
Lundberg had been general manager since Nov. 1.
Scott Farmelant, a spokesman for Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad, said Lundberg's resignation came "by mutual agreement."
Lundberg, 54, a Gloucester native, started his career in the railroad industry in Chicago as a train brakeman shortly after graduating from Northwestern University in Evansville, Ill.
"It was sort of an accident. I was looking for something to do after school, and Chicago & North Western was hiring a brakeman to work on trains," he said in an interview with the Times last November.
In 25 years with Chicago & North Western Railway, Lundberg rose to vice president of labor relations and senior vice president of operations, then moved on to Sea Land Shipping Co. He and his wife, Christine, moved to Gloucester five years ago, when he took a job with Great Lakes Transportation, the applied for and landed the job with tMassachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad last year.
In the interview with the Times shortly after his appointment, Lundberg said his background in labor relations and his experience as a brakeman would help him improve customer service on the entire commuter rail system.
"You really understand what it takes to run the trains and what the employees go through every day," he said.
In Gloucester, Lundberg chairs the Planning Board and sits on the board of directors at Sawyer Free Library.
Mayor John Bell said of Lundberg at the time: "He understands the need for clean train stations and for punctuality, to keep the trains running and on time."
Ridership on the commuter trains soared after a portion of the ceiling in a Big Dig tunnel collapsed July 10, killing a Jamaica Plains woman and leading to tunnel closures that had many commuters looking for alternative ways to get to work.
But poor maintenance, equipment shortages and a chronic problem with air conditioning on trains - particularly during last month's heat wave - left many commuters disgruntled.
Catherine Hartigan, a receptionist from Peabody, had been using the Newburyport/Rockport commuter rail line to travel to work in Boston for almost three years. But she started taking the Salem ferry to work in late July after becoming fed up with repeated delays and cancellations of her trains.
The ferry costs Hartigan about $48 more per month than the commuter rail, but she said the extra money is worth it. "My husband has actually said that my disposition is 100 percent better than it was when I was coming home on the train," she said.
MBTA head Daniel Grabauskas did not return phone messages seeking comment yesterday.
But spokesman Joe Pesaturo said in a phone message to the Times that Grabauskas is "very pleased that the owners of MBCR have taken a deep-rooted interest in the commuter rail's issues that have come up over the summer. He is also pleased that one of the owners, Jim O'Leary, has decided to take the reins of MBCR for the time being to make sure we continue to build on the improvements we have seen over the last few weeks."
Many of the improvements Pesaturo cited - including limiting management vacation and approving more overtime for employees - resulted from decisions made while Lundberg was still in charge.
Indeed, O'Leary said that on-time performance was 89.4 percent in June, dipped to 86 percent in July and bounced up to 91 percent in August through Thursday. Trains that arrive less than five minutes late are counted as "on time."
The 13-line commuter rail system carries an average of 140,000 passengers on weekdays.
The consortium has begun searching for a new general manager and will consider candidates from its three companies as well as across the industry.
The consortium won a five-year contract in 2003 after the MBTA decided not to renew Amtrak's contract due to quality and customer-service issues. Because of MBTA's unhappiness with Amtrak, it added stipulations in the new contract that set service goals.
Associated Press writer Denise LaVoie contributed to this report.
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