Penn Station Reconstruction To Be Overseen By Federal Railroad Administration
Written by David C. Lester, Editor-in-Chief
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy
WASHINGTON, D.C. –– The Penn Station Reconstruction project, for which MTA has served as the leading organization overseeing the project, will now be overseen by the Federal Railroad Administration, according to Sean Duffy, U.S. Secretary of Transportation.
Amtrak, which currently owns Penn Station, now assumes leadership of the project, and will be supported by the FRA. Amtrak moves over ten million riders to and from the station each year.
Reacting to this announcement, MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said “Over a hundred million MTA customers –– two-thirds of Penn Station’s ridership –– use the facility 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.” Lieber also said “The MTA’s 33rd Street Concourse project was the first major improvement to Penn Station in decades –– and we finished it on time and under budget.”
The USDOT would like to develop a public-private partnership for the project to reduce financial exposure to taxpayers, and the federal grant provided to Amtrak for it will be reduced. The FRA says that the new funding arrangement will save taxpayers about $120 million.
Amtrak’s next step is to find a developer to look at the reconstruction and possible expansion of the station. For the Sawtooth Bridges Replacement Project for the Northeast Corridor (NEC), Amtrak decided upon a joint venture of Skanska, Walsh, and Herzog.
