Feds announce takeover of Penn Station redesign, slam NY transit agency's 'inefficiency'

Evan Simko-Bednarski, New York Daily News on Apr 17, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

NEW YORK — President Trump’s Department of Transportation is taking over the MTA’s plan to renovate Penn Station, the U.S. DOT announced Thursday, withdrawing from a longstanding agreement that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority would oversee the station’s redesign while Amtrak and NJ Transit would oversee its expansion.

“(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 attorney for the FRA, a subsidiary agency of U.S. DOT, said in a Thursday letter to MTA officials.

In addition to withdrawing a $72 million redesign grant from the MTA, DOT officials said in a press release Thursday that they had also “slashed” Amtrak’s grant to expand Penn Station. In all, the feds claimed to have cut $120 million from the project.

“President Trump has made it clear: The days of reckless spending and blank checks are over,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement. “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 expansion of Penn Station’s subterranean tracks and systems, which has long been Amtrak’s piece, is expected to cost a total of $16.7 billion. The redesign of the aboveground portion of the station, MTA’s erstwhile remit, was expected to run some $7 billion total.

In a statement, Gov. Kathy Hochul called the federal decision to take over the entirety of the project 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 said. “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 agency’s record on Thursday, but said he was “glad” the feds would be focusing on 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 said in a statement. “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 — part of a state-negotiated plan to have developer Vornado build office towers above a new station — had stalled in the postpandemic commercial real estate lull.

The resulting limbo birthed several competing plans, including one from design firm ASTM, and another pushed by major Trump donor Tom Klingenstein.

Klingenstein — chairman of the right-wing think tank the Claremont Institute — is one of the driving forces behind a Neo-classical vision for the Midtown transit hub known as “Grand Penn,” drawings of which were sent to Duffy last month.

That plan, however, would require Madison Square Garden to be moved from its current location to a spot across the street — a possibility MSG’s owner, James Dolan, has repeatedly called a nonstarter.

The move to drop the MTA from the Penn plan comes as Duffy has threatened to cut funding to the agency amid an ongoing battle about federal authority over state transit policy.

New York’s congestion pricing program — which tolls drivers in Midtown and lower Manhattan in order to reduce congestion and fund an array of public transit projects — is at the center of the fight.

Duffy declared in February that he had revoked a key authorization for the tolling program, despite dubious authority to do so. Hochul has said the toll will stay on absent a court order to the contrary.

With no such order, Duffy has repeatedly threatened to pull federal funding from the transit agency over the dispute, as well as threatening to unleash DOGE — Elon Musk’s government agency chainsawing squad — on the MTA, despite a presidential appointee like Musk having no authority over a New York State agency.

_____