BLOOMBERG (NEW YORK) -- President Donald Trump’s administration said that the $7 billion dollar makeover of Penn Station will begin construction by the end of 2027.
“Crumbling infrastructure, bleak and dirty architecture, unnavigable hallways and no inviting spaces for families with kids – the current state of Penn Station is unacceptable,” US Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement on Wednesday.
The announcement comes after the Trump administration moved to make Amtrak, the owner of Penn Station, the lead of the project, effectively ousting the MTA. The federal government said in its statement that the transit agency, which operates the New York City subway system, “proved it was incapable of delivering major infrastructure on time or on budget.”
Amtrak will receive a nearly $43 million federal grant to help fund the project development and the solicitation of a master developer, as well as permitting and preliminary engineering work.
Andy Byford, the lead for the project and a former New York City Transit President — nicknamed “Train Daddy” — will start the process to solicit a master developer on Aug. 28, according to the statement. He was appointed as a special adviser to Amtrak’s board of directors for the redevelopment earlier this year.
The formal process will start by the end of October 2025 and a selection will be made by the end of May 2026, the statement added.
The plan to transform Penn Station was revised by Governor Kathy Hochul in 2021 after her predecessor Andrew Cuomo launched the plan. The project calls for replacing the current transit hub with a 250,000 square-foot single-level facility, new amenities and retail stores, mixed-income housing and more.
The Trump administration has been working to take direct control of key rail hubs along the Northeast Corridor. Earlier on Wednesday, Duffy said the administration is moving to reclaim management of Washington’s Union Station, a historic rail hub just blocks from the US Capitol building that officials say has decayed with age.