NEW YORK — The Amtrak-led project to redevelop New York’s Penn Station announced several steps forward on Thursday, most notably a call for the project’s master developer.
A 98-page request for letters of interest available at Amtrak’s procurement site describes the project as a “a comprehensive redevelopment … to transform the station into a modern transportation hub that provides a world-class experience for all station users.” It says the master developer will work with Amtrak as part of a “progressive public-private partnership to design, build, finance, operate and maintain significant portions of the station.”
Andy Byford, the Amtrak special advisor charged and former New York City Transit official charged with overseeing the station redevelopment, said in a statement that Amtrak and the U.S. Department of Transportation are “strongly committed to beginning construction by the end of 2027.” A one-page fact sheet accompanying his statement lays out a timeline calling for selection of the master developer in May 2026, and preliminary design and environmental-report work from summer 2026 to the end of 2027, after which construction would begin.
Also on Wednesday, the Department of Transportation announced the selection of advisors to help structure the public-private partnership that will undertake the project, and the launch of a Service Optimization Study to consider ways to accommodate growth of passenger service at Penn Station and the surrounding region. Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP will serve as the legal advisor and KPMG will be the financial advisor, while AKRF will be the project’s environmental consultant.
The New York Times reports the service study will have two parts. One, which will take about six months, will look at possible station improvements; the other, which could take another year, will consider the prospect of through running, which would see trains from New Jersey and Long Island continue through the station to serve communities on the other side, rather than the long-standing practice of having Penn Station serve as the terminus for services from either direction.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he is “confident we’ll bring together the greatest minds to create an unmatched symbol of American architecture and infrastructure for visitors and daily commuters to enjoy for decades to come.”
Amtrak and the Federal Railroad Administration took control of the Penn Station project in April, when Duffy announced the Metropolitan Transportation Authority was being removed from its lead role and rescinded a $72 million grant to the MTA for Penn Station work [see “FRA, Amtrak to take over ….,” Trains.com, April 17, 2025].
No cost estimate or timeline for the project has been presented. The Times notes the state of New York had committed $1.3 billion to an earlier plan estimated to cost $7 billion, but that commitment was withdrawn after the FRA and Amtrak took control in April. Amtrak owns the station, but the MTA and NJ Transit are the two biggest users.
Under Mamdani this will be done at minimal expense. Everything will be free and cheap peasant labor will be available.
Hasn’t Trump’s recent pulling the plug on the Gateway project made this rebuild/modernisation/cleanup of Penn Station an unnecessary waste of money? If Amtrak (and NJTransit) cannot get to/from NJ and west because one of the existing tunnels becomes even more structurally deficient than it already is and has to be taken out of service and single-tracking through the other destroys the service levels of both carriers what good does it do to rebuild/ clean up Penn Station?
Ms Vinson is correct. While the Moynihan train hall is a success, I read somewhere that the McCim, Meade, and White original could be done again for less than other proposals. The strange thing about the photo is the futuristic entrance leads down into the rats nest?
I sincerely hope this new redevelopment proposal will result in Penn Station rebuilt in its original Beaux-Art architecture adopted to the needs of the 21st century.
Madison Square Arena (which is not even at its namesake) and the neighbouring vertical black slab must go!
While laughing, best to stay on topic. The unmentioned elephant in the room is the Mad. Sg. Garden issue. IMHO that must be removed first. What will follow is a lotta jockeying amongst the interested parties (count ’em) and pr blather. Have just been in both GCT and Penn Sta, the contrast could not be more striking. As with Lincoln Center’s Geffen Hall, where the NY Phil. Orch. plays, it would be best to tear down and start anew.
CURTIS — MSG was built on the ruins of Penn Station what year, maybe 1961. Before I ever saw Penn Station. Most people know of Penn Station either through books, or not at all. I doubt one New Yorker in three hundred has seen it.
The only Penn Station I ever saw was the one there now, the one that looks and functions like somebody’s basement. And most people are a whole lot younger than I am. And in New York’s case, many of the people my age weren’t even living in USA back then.
The best case would be to rebuild Penn Station, but no one has that kind of money.
Beware of interference in the project from the developer-in-chief. Just one temper tantrum could put the kibosh on the plans.
Beware the incoming mayor of New York, and his enablers among other New York State politicians such as the governor. If I were president I would withhold every dime to city and state.
New York city and state make their own problems.
In a better world I would urge federal support of this and other needed transportation projects. In a better world Kathy wouldn’t be governor and Osama Bin Mamdani wouldn’t be mayor.