Amtrak wants New York City to chip in for President Trump's multi-billion-dollar renovation of Penn Station, project lead Andy Byford said on Wednesday, hours before Mayor Mamdani raised the alarm about the city's massive budget gap.
"We are talking to the city about how they might play a part in their funding," Byford, Amtrak's point person for the renovation, told members of the business-aligned Citizens Budget Commission at a breakfast gathering.
"There's a lot of detail that still needs to be worked out in how you do pay for what will be an expensive proposition," the former New York City Transit president said, adding that he hopes New York, New Jersey and the MTA also help pay. "No one thinks that the existing station is acceptable. ... And it's in everyone's interest that we have a truly world-class station that functions on the most important corridor, the northeast corridor, in the U.S."
The Trump administration took over the Penn Station rehab from New York State last April. At the time, Gov. Hochul welcomed the move, thanking the feds for "taking on the sole responsibility to deliver the beautiful new $7-billion station that New Yorkers deserve."
But details of the federal government's plan, including its cost, remain unclear —Amtrak initially raised the possibility that New Yorkers and New Jerseyans could foot the bill, potentially through "user fees" charged to the railroads that use the facility, but on Wednesday, Byford suggested he has ruled out user fees as a financing mechanism.
Amtrak last week quietly announced three potential "master developers" for the renovation of the massive transit hub, but has refused to make public the criteria for its final selection — including the project's pricetag.
Byford has said the Trump White House, and the president personally, will have final say over the effort. All three of the "master developer" finalists have ties to the Trump administration.
Amtrak frames the project as a type of public-private partnership known as a "Design, Build, Operate, Manage and Finance," an arrangement in which a developer designs and builds the project with its own funding, and then both recoups its initial layout and turns a profit while running the project.
Byford also revealed on Wednesday that NJ Transit will sign a "memorandum of agreement" with Amtrak that will give the Garden State commuter rail system "full voting rights" over the selection of the developer. MTA has not signed, he said, because "they would rather rely on their lease" with Amtrak to operate out of the building.
Byford acknowledged it will be a "challenge" to convince New York state and city officials to cough up cash for the project.
"When the administration changed the plan and gave Amtrak full responsibility for this project, the state said, 'Well, great, fantastic. The feds are covering the cost,' and they took back the [money] they were looking to contribute. And they repurposed that towards the Interborough Express and towards Second Avenue subway. And I get that," he said. "But I think over time ... I can work with New Jersey and New York to come to the table — and the city."
New Yorkers have reason to be wary of the Trump-run federal railroad's secretive selection process and the lack of a pricetag for the project, said Rachael Fauss of the government watchdog Reinvent Albany.
"New Yorkers need answers about how much Amtrak is proposing this will cost," said Fauss. "If this is truly going to be 'Trump Station,' the Trump administration should be paying for it with the vast amount of federal resources available, not through overt or back-door schemes to rip off New York."
Mayor Mamdani, meanwhile, revealed the city faces massive budget gaps at a press conference at City Hall on Wednesday, just hours after Byford said he wants the city to help pay for the Penn Station project.
"There is a massive fiscal deficit in our city's budget, to the tune of $12 billion," Mamdani said, blaming the "crisis" on former Mayor Eric Adams and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
New York State leadership also does not sound too keen on digging into the Empire Coffers to pay for the project either.
"When Governor Hochul secured full federal commitment to reconstruct Penn Station last year, she was clear: this is a federal project and it is the responsibility of the federal government to put forth a funding plan," said gubernatorial spokesperson Sean Butler. "Her position has not changed and she will not allow for a project that leaves New York riders picking up the tab."
