It's important to note that he's not being canned. He's merely being demoted. He'll still be collecting a paycheck issued by either MTA or Metrolink.

They're retaining him because they have an investment in him. Or, perhaps more accurately, they have an investment in his home. Check this out from an LA TIMES article from Dec. 11, 2008:

Solow was hired from New Jersey Transit in 1990 to help start Metrolink when it was still part of Los Angeles County's MTA. As part of the deal, the MTA paid $100,000 toward the $326,350 purchase of his Laguna Niguel home.

Funny, up until now I would have never thought that the MTA was also in the real estate business.

You have to remember that these are political, government, TAXPAYER-SUPPORTED jobs. No one ever gets fully let go. It's like a shell game and he's just been hidden under a different shell. MTA / Metrolink / Veolia-Connex does the same thing with their incompetent managers that the Catholic church does with its pedophile priests. You simply move 'em to another city or another department and hopefully the spotlight will no longer shine on them. Remember Tommy McDonald and Gregg Konstanzer, the two incompetent managers employed by Veolia-Connex that Metrolink demanded be "fired"? They haven't been fired. They've just been moved around a little by Veolia-Connex. They're still on Veolia-Connex's payroll and have never missed a paycheck.

Railroading + Politics = Metrolink