Andrew Byford[4] grew up in Plymouth, England, and graduated with double honours in French and German at the University of Leicester.

[14][15] In 2015, Byford served on an APTA panel that reviewed the Boston-area Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's handling of winter operations.

[16] In June 2017, Byford was invited to present best practice to New York governor Cuomo's Genius Transit Challenge conference, as part of a panel of international experts.

[citation needed] In May 2020, Byford served on a Ministerial Advisory Council to advise the Government of Ontario on COVID-19 recovery, as it pertains to mass transit.

[23] As part of state legislation passed in April 2019, the MTA was supposed to create a plan to reduce costs by the end of that June.

[30] The Guardian wrote: "the final straw may have come after Cuomo reorganized the MTA, the state transport body, stripping Byford of some responsibilities.

[7] During his tenure as TfL commissioner, the agency negotiated a funding deal with the government to guarantee revenue through 2024 as it continued to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

[38] In March 2023, it was reported that Byford would start serving as executive vice president in charge of high-speed rail for Amtrak on 10 April 2023.

[39] Byford leads Amtrak's support for such regional initiatives in Texas, Florida, California, Nevada, the Midwest and along the Eastern Seaboard.

[42] In March 2019, Byford received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Leicester in recognition of his 30-year career in public transport across two continents.