He - if there was a crisis, like the Big Dig tunnel collapse, he took charge and understood all the intricacies of engineering and - better than probably a lot of engineering experts on it.
At the moment, despite its lamentable performance, the company is being rewarded by John Prescott, the transport minister, for taking two big problems off his hands: the Channel tunnel rail link and parts of the London Underground.
Another group of big cities that may be seeing light at the end of the tunnel are some of the metro areas hit hardest by the bursting of the housing bubble.