The Tube Fixer.(London underground, Bob Kiley)(Brief Article)

A 65-year-old former CIA agent would seem an unlikely savior for London's venerable Tube. But American Bob Kiley was hired as the city's transport commissioner last year precisely because he had already turned around public-transport systems in both Boston and New York. The decrepit Underground, which dates back to the 19th century, may prove a tougher challenge. Last month Kiley announced that he was taking the British government to court over plans to raise money to overhaul the subway by semiprivatizing the network. He argues that sharing management control with private firms could jeopardize the safety of passengers. In London, he talked to NEWSWEEK's William Underhill:

UNDERHILL: What persuaded you to take the job?

KILEY: The three oldest rapid-transit systems in the world are in London, New York and Boston. And I had run New York and Boston. So it was one of those challenges.

How do London's problems compare with those you encountered in New York?

The condition of the plant and rolling stock was much worse when I took over in New York, and that is a system that carries almost twice as many people as in London and has about 2 1/2 times the length of track. But the system in London is very unforgiving, especially on the deep lines. The space between the trains and the tunnels themselves is so scant that no human being can do maintenance or renewal work in the tunnels during service hours.

Are there any underlying problems that the two cities share?

There is this habit in both countries of neglecting cities, and maybe being suspicious of our cities. ...