President Trump’s Division of Transportation is taking on the MTA’s plan to renovate Penn Station, the U.S. DOT introduced Thursday, withdrawing from a longstanding settlement that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority would oversee the station’s redesign whereas Amtrak and NJ Transit would oversee its growth.
“[The Federal Railroad Administration] has determined the necessary planning for reconstruction and expansion of Penn Station will be conducted under a single grant, led by Amtrak,” an lawyer for the FRA, a subsidiary company of U.S. DOT, mentioned in a Thursday letter to MTA officers.
Along with withdrawing a $72 million redesign grant from the MTA, DOT officers mentioned in a press launch Thursday that that they had additionally “slashed” Amtrak’s grant to broaden Penn Station. In all, the feds claimed to have reduce $120 million from the challenge.
“President Trump has made it clear: The days of reckless spending and blank checks are over,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy mentioned in an announcement. “New York City deserves a Penn Station that reflects America’s greatness and is safe and clean.”
“The MTA’s history of inefficiency, waste and mismanagement also meant that a new approach is needed,” he continued. “By putting taxpayers first, we’re ensuring every dollar is spent wisely to create a transit hub all Americans can take pride in.”
The growth of Penn Station’s subterranean tracks and techniques, which has lengthy been Amtrak’s piece, is predicted to price a complete of $16.7 billion. The redesign of the aboveground portion of the station, MTA’s erstwhile remit, was anticipated to run some $7 billion whole.
In an announcement, Gov. Hochul known as the federal choice to take over the whole lot of the challenge a “major victory for New Yorkers.”
“In multiple meetings with President Trump, I requested that the federal government fund the long-overdue overhaul of Penn Station,” she mentioned. “Clearly that effort has been successful, and I want to thank the president and Secretary Duffy for taking on the sole responsibility to deliver the beautiful new $7 billion station that New Yorkers deserve.”
“This is a major victory for New Yorkers,” she continued, “and the use of federal funds will save New York taxpayers $1.3 billion that would have otherwise been necessary for this project.”
MTA Chairman Janno Lieber defended his company’s file on Thursday, however mentioned he was “glad” the feds could be specializing in Penn.
“Our 33rd St. Concourse project was the first major improvement to Penn Station in decades — and we finished it on time and under budget,” Lieber mentioned in an announcement. “Over 100 million MTA customers — two-thirds of the facility’s total ridership — use Penn Station every year.”
“As the major leaseholder in the station, we expect to participate in the administration’s and Amtrak’s efforts to ensure future plans meet the needs of everyone who uses it,” he added.
The MTA’s redesign — a part of a state-negotiated plan to have developer Vornado construct workplace towers above a brand new station — had stalled within the postpandemic industrial actual property lull.
The ensuing limbo birthed a number of competing plans, together with one from design agency ASTM, and one other pushed by main Trump donor Tom Klingenstein.
Klingenstein — chairman of the right-wing assume tank the Claremont Institute — is among the driving forces behind a Neo-classical imaginative and prescient for the Midtown transit hub generally known as “Grand Penn,” drawings of which had been despatched to Duffy final month.
That plan, nevertheless, would require Madison Sq. Backyard to be moved from its present location to a spot throughout the road — a chance MSG’s proprietor, James Dolan, has repeatedly known as a nonstarter.
The transfer to drop the MTA from the Penn plan comes as Duffy has threatened to chop funding to the company amid an ongoing battle about federal authority over state transit coverage.
New York’s congestion pricing program — which tolls drivers in Midtown and decrease Manhattan in an effort to cut back congestion and fund an array of public transit initiatives — is on the middle of the battle.
Duffy declared in February that he had revoked a key authorization for the tolling program, regardless of doubtful authority to take action. Hochul has mentioned the toll will keep on absent a court docket order on the contrary.
With no such order, Duffy has repeatedly threatened to tug federal funding from the transit company over the dispute, in addition to threatening to unleash DOGE — Elon Musk’s authorities company chainsawing squad — on the MTA, regardless of a presidential appointee like Musk having no authority over a New York State company.
Initially Printed: April 17, 2025 at 5:40 PM EDT
