The Trump administration announced it is seeking to hand over the reconstruction planning of New York Penn Station to Amtrak and take it away from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which has been leading this effort for the last few years.
“The Trump Administration determined that USDOT and Amtrak can together deliver a world-class Penn Station,” the U.S. Department of transportation said Thursday in a statement.
“Since Amtrak owns the station, which is an essential asset serving over 10 million Amtrak riders annually, there is no reason to delegate leadership of this important project,” the statement said.
By a wide margin, riders of NJ Transit and of the Long Island Rail Road — which is owned and operated by the MTA — use Penn Station more than riders on Amtrak.
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“As one of the largest users of the station, NJ Transit looks forward to working with USDOT and Amtrak on the Penn Station Reconstruction project,” said Kris Kolluri, NJ Transit’s president and CEO.
Amtrak declined to comment and referred questions to U.S. DOT. The MTA did not immediately provide comment.
In addition, the Federal Railroad Administration is “rescoping and slashing” a federal grant for the project that “will save taxpayers $120 million,” the DOT release also said.
It’s unclear how that money will be saved, since the MTA was awarded a $72 million federal grant in November to help renovate the station. A spokesperson at U.S. DOT did not immediately provide an answer to that question.
A rendering of the future entrance of Penn Station, is shown in Manhattan. Thursday, June 9, 2022
“Amtrak can pursue a master developer to examine both reconstruction and potential expansion of the station,” the release said. Amtrak has been separately studying ideas for how to expand New York Penn Station.
“The Trump Administration is also championing a public-private partnership model for Penn Station, harnessing private sector innovation and capital to minimize financial risk to taxpayers,” the press release said.
Public-private partnerships have been controversial
Figuring out ways to use public-private partnerships to fund renovations and a potential expansion of Penn Station have been met with controversy in recent years.
In 2023, Vornado Trust Realty, which owns most of the land around Penn Station, paused a plan that would have used a public-private partnership model to help renovate the station and build some new entrances and vertical circulation.
However, the plan was criticized, in part because there were concerns about whether too much emphasis was being put on the commercial and retail planning and not enough on the needed improvements to the station, which has been grimy, at overcapacity and in need of improved pedestrian circulation for decades.
When Penn Station was rebuilt in the 1960s, business interests overshadowed the train station’s needs when Madison Square Garden and an office tower were built over Penn Station, requiring more than 200 columns that go down to the track level and impede the ability to expand the undersized platforms.
When Penn Station was rebuilt in the 1960s, business interests overshadowed the train station’s needs when Madison Square Garden and an office tower were built over the station, requiring more than 200 columns that go down to the track level and impede the ability to expand the undersized platforms.
Public-private partnerships have been successful with other transit projects, including the 7-train subway extension, which was largely funded with bonds backed by payments in lieu of tax revenue from real estate interests in the land around the new subway station.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is using a similar arrangement to help pay for the more than $10 billion reconstruction of the Port Authority Bus Terminal.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Trump seeks to wrest NYC Penn Station makeover from MTA