Transportation Secretary asks Congress to approve renaming of New York Penn Station
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U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy urged congressional leaders to direct Amtrak to rename New York Penn Station and to allocate additional federal funding for its $8 billion reconstruction.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sent a letter to Senate committee chairs on Wednesday requesting that Congress give Amtrak authority to rename New York Penn Station and approve supplemental funding for its ongoing reconstruction. The request arrives as the federal government leads a multi-billion-dollar effort to rebuild the aging hub, a project that was transferred from the MTA to Amtrak after the Trump administration took control last year.
Duffy’s letter does not name a specific replacement, but it asks lawmakers to "direct Amtrak to rename New York Penn Station" and includes several financing proposals. Among them is a request for $1 billion from the Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail Grant Program to start major redesign work, approval of a Republican-backed amendment that would allow property-tax revenue around the station to help fund the project, and an increase in the cap for a railroad loan program from $35 billion to $50 billion.
The redesign, selected by Amtrak last month, features renderings that show a wall with a presidential seal bearing a former president’s name. Critics have voiced concerns about the naming proposal. > "After months of hiding from the public, Sean Duffy has confirmed that the Trump administration is waging a hostile takeover of Penn Station, including delivering Trump his dream of renaming Penn Station after himself," Rep. Jerry Nadler said in a statement. "This will be one of the most expensive projects in the country, yet the administration still has not disclosed how it will be funded or who will pay the bill. New York taxpayers and transit riders must not be forced to foot the bill for a Trump vanity project."
Officials overseeing the project say they aim to secure as much federal grant and loan money as possible before seeking additional contributions from New Jersey and New York state.