Trump fires MTA from long-awaited Penn Station revamp, puts feds in charge: ‘Blank checks are over’

NY Post ^ | 4/17/25 | Vaughn Golden, Matt Troutman

[Libloather]

Next stop: Trump Station

President Trump fired the MTA from the long-awaited revamp of Penn Station on Thursday, instead putting the feds in charge of a gold-plated makeover for the decrepit transit hub.

Amtrak will spearhead the renovation as the feds champion a “public-private partnership model,” announced Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.

“President Trump has made it clear: the days of reckless spending and blank checks are over,” Duffy said in a statement.

“New York City deserves a Penn Station that reflects America’s greatness and is safe and clean.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul had been engaged in tense face-to-face talks with Trump over Penn Station — and recently reportedly joked about renaming it after him to get more federal cash for the project.

Making Penn Station great again has been a years-long dream – and nightmare – for New York leaders.

The feds’ surprise move puts two long-gestating, parallel Penn Station projects – one to reconstruct the crumbling building and another to expand it rail capacity — under the same umbrella.

[GOPJ]

More than just putting Amtrak in charge, they need to declare, or make by law, that all of Penn Station is federal property, and then cut off NY, NYC red tape and reduce the federal red tape to make decisions and get the project done.

Great post and you're totally right on this last part. Thanks for sharing. Trump should look into this matter and 'assist' with ideas.

[FreedomPoster]

I was thinking the same thing.

[Mr. Lucky]

The Kingston Trio; haven't heard from them in a long time.

Did they ever return?

[Olog-hai]

That’s how it looked when it was first built. That building, designed by McKim, Mead & White, was demolished between 1963 and 1966 and the current communistic building put up in its place. Its demolition has been cited as the primary mover for saving Grand Central Terminal’s concourse.

[Taxman]

A buck a day per passenger might fund the whole project!

[mass55th]

I was born and raised in Rochester, NY. My Dad worked as a track foreman for the New York Central. He retired not long after it became PennCentral. Because my Dad worked for the railroad, we got to ride the train for free. Every so often on a Saturday, as a family, we'd hop on the train and go to Buffalo to visit the Buffalo Zoo, then we'd get back on the train, and rode to Niagara Falls, spend the rest of the day there, and get back home about 9 p.m. We didn't have a car, so we'd take a taxi to the train station. It was the only time we ever rode in one.

The Rochester train station was beautiful. Built in 1914, it had the similar art-deco style of many other NY Central stations in the State. It had a beautiful mosaic fountain in the entrance way. They tore it down in 1965 to put in a parking lot.

Rochester’s 7th Most Beautiful Train Station in the U.S.

[Olog-hai]

Bloomberg tore down what Giuliani built up. Started piling on with “soda taxes” and other absurd regulations; really paved the way for De Blasio.

[higgmeister]

President Trump needs to hire a Dagny Taggart to get it done right!