By Sri Taylor, Bloomberg
The highly anticipated renovation of New York City’s Pennsylvania Station will kick off construction by the end of 2027, the Trump administration announced on Wednesday.
The $7 billion project calls for replacing the current transit hub with a 250,000 square-foot single-level facility, new amenities and retail stores, as well as mixed-income housing. Penn Station was once an architectural marvel, built in an Beaux-Arts style with soaring soaring steel and glass providing travelers with light and space on their journeys.
The old structure was torn down in the 1960s and replaced with an underground hub to make room for Madison Square Garden, the iconic Manhattan sports and concert venue. Now, one the nation’s busiest rail station is dark and cramped, often frustrating commuters who ride New Jersey Transit and the Long Island Rail Road.
“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.
Penn Station is one of the major gateways to Manhattan, logging more than 1,000 daily trains across 21 tracks, according to figures released by Amtrak. More than 200,000 commuter and Amtrak passenger trips go through the hub each day.
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The announcement comes after the Trump administration moved to make Amtrak — the owner of Penn Station — the lead of the project, effectively ousting the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The federal government said 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 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 process will start by the end of October and a selection will be made by the end of May 2026, the statement detailed.
Once shovels are in the ground, commuters can expect to experience some delays and changes to their routes, according to Byford. “We’ll strategize on how to do it with minimum disruption,” he said.
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