It was winter 2020 when then-New York City Transit President Andy Byford left the agency after reported clashes with then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo. But he\u2019s now happy to be back in New York, armed with that experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe good news is you learn from your mistakes, right?\u201d Byford told the New York Building Congress Wednesday. \u201cAnd so I said to someone the other day, I\u2019ve come back to New York sneakier, more cunning, more crafty.\u201d<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
After working in Washington, D.C. for Amtrak, former New York City Transit President Andy Byford says he’s happy to be back in New York leading the transformation of Penn Station
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The Penn Station project includes a study on expanding capacity within the current footprint of the station to prepare for the completion of the Gateway Tunnel, which Byford says he is confident will be built despite the president saying it is terminated
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Byford says the LIRR’s recent renovation of the 33rd Street concourse won’t be affected and, in fact, serves as a template of how the station should be<\/p>\n
He says he\u2019s using that in his new position \u2014\u00a0special advisor to the Amtrak Board for the Penn Station Transformation \u2014 to get shovels in the ground by late 2027, on orders from the president.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we have someone that\u2019s unduly obstructive or something that\u2019s causing me a problem, even within Amtrak, well, my trump card is the Trump card,\u201d Byford said. \u201cIf necessary, I won\u2019t hesitate to say, \u2018Well, we need to get this done. And you\u2019re saying we can\u2019t do it? Do you want to tell him, or shall I? Because I\u2019m not telling him.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The Penn project does not have a budget yet but does include a study on how to maximize capacity at the station once the\u00a0Gateway Tunnel is completed, which will bring in more trains. So, he\u2019s not worried by the president\u2019s proclamation that the project to build an additional train tunnel under the Hudson River has been terminated.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not unduly fazed by the current standoff,\u201d Byford said. \u201cI think there\u2019s a lot of politics there. Let\u2019s see how it plays out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Byford has ideas for the station, citing what the MTA did in renovating the LIRR concourse, which he says he won\u2019t be touched.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat the MTA did in widening the corridor and elevating the ceiling and providing much better retail offer, much easier to clean surfaces, just a better customer product that\u2019s got to be, sort of a \u2014 it\u2019s got to be a template,\u201d Byford said. \u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019m looking for, a template for how it should be done in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the politics, Byford says he looks back fondly at his two years at the MTA.<\/p>\n
\u201cI loved working for the MTA, and I was super proud to be president of New York City Transit. It\u2019s something that will remain with me for the rest of my career,\u201d Byford said. \u201cI use the subway every day. I\u2019m very pleased to see that what we launched as the Fast Forward plan back in 2018, that does continue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Byford is moving forward fast with Penn Station, putting out the solicitation for a master developer on Oct. 31.\u00a0A firm will be chosen in May. However, there\u2019s no timeline for completion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was winter 2020 when then-New York City Transit President Andy Byford left the agency after reported clashes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12609,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[25,1084,9,24,55,54,12,56,298,27,296,142,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-12608","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-app-top-stories","9":"tag-app-traffic-transit","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-city","12":"tag-new-york-city-headlines","13":"tag-new-york-city-news","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-ny","16":"tag-samantha-liebman","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-traffic-and-transit","19":"tag-transit","20":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}