Plan to Bulldoze Block South of Sta. on ‘Hold’–for Now
- Rachel Miller
- Aug 29
- 2 min read
THE SPIRIT
August 28, 2025
Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said the Trump administration wants the rebuild of Penn Station to start by the end of 2027. He and Andy Byford, the Amtrak executive who will oversee the effort, said plans to knock down the block south of the station on "absolute hold".
BY MICHAEL ORESKES
"The physical expansion of Penn Station, which could require the destruction of the block immediately to the south, is 'absolutely on hold' while the Trump administration conducts a detailed study of increasing the station’s capacity within its present footprint.That announcement, welcomed by advocates for the neighborhood, was made by Andy Byford, the recently appointed head of the Trump Administration’s project to transform the station.
'I think it's only right that, initially, what we should do is look to see how we could use this station more efficiently,' Byford said. 'There's 21 tracks. There's definitely efficiencies that we can squeeze more trains per hour out if we use the station more efficiently.'...
'I think we're selling New Yorkers short if, in the future, they turn up and they're wowed by a beautiful new station head house,' Byford said. 'But then they get to the bottom and they think, did they run out of money? It's still the same dark, gloomy, boiling hot, narrow and cramped situation that we currently have today. So I think it's really important that we look to maximize the existing capacity first, before we even think about expanding in the future.'
Local advocates celebrated Byford's comments. “Perfect,” said Layla Law-Gisiko, President of the City Club, who hugged Byford after he completed the press conference.
'The Penn Station project is a good candidate for a public-private partnership,' she added. 'As long as the chosen partner is financially sound, delivers quality work, and charges a fair price, the model makes sense. The advantage of a P3 is clear: if the project runs over time or over budget, the private partner—not the public—absorbs the cost.'"...
