Repairs to Rhinecliff, N.Y. Amtrak Station Halted by Trump Administration
Written by David C. Lester, Editor-in-Chief
Image courtesy of Wikimapia.org
RHINEBECK, N.Y. –– This week, the Trump administration halted funding for repairs underway at the Rhinecliff Amtrak station.
According to the Albany Times Union, the funding awarded by the Biden administration for repairs to the very busy Rhinecliff Amtrak station, $28.2 million, has been halted by the Trump administration for “further evaluation by the U.S. Department of Transportation.”
New York State Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha, who represents the Rhinebeck area, said “It speaks to the utter failure of this federal administration that as it wastes billions of taxpayer dollars to bring us to the brink of an energy crisis and global destabilization, it has also paused work on a train station that undermines our constituents’ ability to use mass transit. The United States has the highest GDP in the world, and yet we can’t get these basic infrastructure needs taken care of, let alone build a reliable, affordable and high-speed rail system, which is what we should already be prioritizing.”
In 2022, the U.S. DOT announced that repairs and improvements at the station would enable more daily trains to run on Amtrak’s “Empire Corridor” between Albany and New York’s Penn Station. Currently, the station hosts 26 Amtrak trains every day and about 219,000 passengers utilized the station in 2025.
The Empire State Passengers Association pointed out that part of the funding would enable full access, in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, at the station. In addition, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a long-time advocate of the project, said his office would “fight to make sure the Hudson Valley gets all the resources it was promised for this long overdue rehabilitation project.”
The Times Union also reported that “It was unclear what led to the pause. The New York state Department of Transportation referred questions to the Federal Railroad Administration [FRA], which is overseeing the project along with state transportation officials. The FRA did not respond to inquiries.”
When funding was halted, the station project was under environmental review, and part of a $233 million Biden administration initiative to bolster rail passenger service in the United States. Specifically for the Rhinecliff station, funding was earmarked for train signaling machinery, new elevators, and a new station platform. Officials had expected construction to begin in spring 2027.
