Even Amtrak President Roger Harris had nothing to say at the railroad board\u2019s monthly meeting on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will shortly be announcing the results of our developer there,\u201d was the extent of Harris\u2019s comments on what is setting up to be one of the noble \u2014 or ignoble \u2014 projects in New York history. Harris also provided this useless slide:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Amtrak-Penn-Station-hmm.png\")
Thank you, Amtrak.<\/p>\n
Instead, Amtrak has only said that the Halmar-led project will add a \u201cgrand entrance\u201d on Eighth Avenue, a new concourse, way-finding improvements and retail while slapping a new exterior on Madison Square Garden to give it \u201ca classical look,\u201d in the words of Amtrak<\/a> or make it look like a \u201cpseudo-nouveau riche homeowner in Nassau County<\/a>,\u201d in the words of one social media poster. Duffy and company have also promised the addition of \u201climited\u201d through-running at the hub.<\/p>\n Despite a small media frenzy<\/a> surrounding the announcement and its minor details, Amtrak has shared little else, and certainly no major details \u2014 leaving a laundry list of questions, such as:<\/p>\n 1. What will this cost and who will pay for it?<\/p>\n The cost and funding question has loomed over the project since the moment federal Transportation Secretary (and road trip reality show<\/a> star) Sean Duffy took it over last year, and continues to loom over it now.<\/p>\n In 2023, ASTM told the public its plan would cost $6 billion, but reporters later pegged its cost at something closer to $8 billion<\/a>. The Italian conglomerate claimed that by paying for the construction itself, the project would be a win for taxpayers. <\/p>\n In reality, the company planned for Amtrak, New Jersey Transit and the MTA to pay the company $250 million a year for 50 years to run the station complex \u2014 a total price tag of $12.5 billion.<\/p>\n Andy Byford, the former beloved head of MTA New York City Transit-turned-gleeful cheerleader for the Duffy-Trump team<\/a>, has also not provided any funding estimate. He has said that the feds won\u2019t pay for the entire project, and that it would involve a private sector developer fronting some of the money.<\/p>\n \u201cThere will be a hefty public sector funding element, but that will be topped up by some upfront funding from a master developer who will thereby have skin in the game to get it done and get it done properly and get it done on budget,\u201d Byford told the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA at a briefing in December.<\/p>\n That \u201cpublic sector funding element\u201d isn\u2019t limited to federal government and Amtrak. Byford has suggested New York will have to have \u201cskin\u201d in the game as well. In January, he said that Amtrak had talked to New York City<\/a> about paying for some of the project.<\/p>\n \t\t\tRecommended<\/p>\n \t\t Byford faces an uphill battle on that front, however. Gov. Hochul has flat-out said that New York taxpayers are not going to chip in.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be successful, this project must accomplish two things: dramatically improve the experience for every rider who passes through Penn Station, from the A train to the Acela, while protecting the record performance of the LIRR and ensuring the costs are not borne by New York commuters or taxpayers,\u201d Hochul said last week. \u201cI will accept nothing less.\u201d<\/p>\n Byford has ruled out having the MTA, NJ Transit and Amtrak or their riders pay for the station upgrades in the form of ticket surcharges or annual payments<\/a> to Halmar.<\/p>\n At a Senate hearing last Tuesday, Duffy told Sen. Kirsten Gilliband that U.S. DOT was \u201cgoing to give $8 billion to rebuild Penn Station,\u201d which suggested that the feds would cover the entire cost of the project, contradicting Byford\u2019s previous statements. A spokesperson for U.S. DOT told Streetsblog the secretary was referencing the previously reported total cost of the project \u2014 not how much the feds plan to chip in.<\/p>\n In April, the Federal Railroad Administration announced $4.7 billion in grants<\/a> for intercity rail projects along the Northeast Corridor, including an unspecific amount of money for improvements to Penn Station and Washington D.C.\u2019s Union Station.<\/p>\n The funding question relates to another outstanding query \u2026<\/p>\n 2. What was Amtrak\u2019s criteria for selecting a developer?<\/p>\n Amtrak and Byford refused to make public their criteria for selecting a developer<\/a> for the project, to the ire of New York officials and good government groups.<\/p>\n In October, the federally owned railroad issued a request for letters of interest<\/a> from companies to show they could manage and execute the project without closing down the station. That document shed some light on the fact that the selected developer would be responsible for designing, building, maintaining, operating and financing the project.<\/p>\n This arrangement, known as a DBOM-F, set off alarm bells among watchdogs who worried that the scheme could leave New Yorkers and transit riders holding the bag for the cost of the project in the form of decades of maintenance payments from the three railroads that use Penn Station, ultimately paid by riders.<\/p>\n New Yorkers could also end up paying for the renovation by siphoning of city or state taxes from the area in the form of \u201cpayments of lieu of taxes,\u201d as the state once planned to do<\/a> under Gov. Hochul and her predecessor, Andrew Cuomo.<\/p>\n That scheme would have funded renovations by allowing the real estate giant Vornado to build office towers to pay back the state\u2019s Penn Station loans instead of paying city property taxes. This is also known as \u201cstealing New York City tax money<\/a>,\u201d and so people were not enamored with the idea. Vornado CEO\/Trump pal Steve Roth is a partner on the Halmar effort, raising the obvious question of, \u201cWhat\u2019s in it for Vornado?\u201d<\/p>\n The answer could be that since the state has never actually unwound the powers it has over land use around Penn Station, developed under an arrangement known as a General Project Plan<\/a>, those zoning powers could still be handed to Vornado and Halmar as part of a scheme to pay off some of the train station project.<\/p>\n After Amtrak picked three companies to share design and financing ideas, the railroad refused to tell the public what it asked of the applicants in terms of financing or design elements or land-use issues around the train station \u2014 raising eyebrows among transparency advocates concerned local taxpayers could get a raw deal.<\/p>\n \u201cThe public should be able to see for itself what Amtrak asked developers to submit in terms of design, any real estate development, and how exactly this will be paid for \u2014 including through public and private funding,\u201d said Reinvent Albany Senior Policy Advisor Rachael Fauss. \u201cWe still don\u2019t know if New Yorkers might be on the hook to pay for any piece of the project. Amtrak should release the full RFP that was sent to bidders, not a \u2018summary\u2019 of the process and scope of their request.\u201d<\/p>\n 3. What will the new Penn Station actually look like?<\/p>\n Neither Amtrak nor Halmar released any images to go along with their announcement. The proposal from Penn Transformation Partners, the official branding for the chosen developer, may resurrect a plan that Halmar owner ASTM pitched in 2023:<\/p>\n ASTM\u2019s proposal involved giving Madison Square Garden owner James Dolan $500 million to knock down the Hulu Theater in order to build a grand Eighth Avenue entrance to Penn Station along with a single-level concourse above its train platforms.<\/p>\n But neither Halmar nor Amtrak has shared any public details of its 2026 proposal. As far as the public is concerned, the project allegedly set to start construction next year is a mirage.<\/p>\n ASTM did have renderings of its proposal from 2023, seen above, back when it was trying to win hearts and minds over to the concept of giving half a billion dollars to the much-hated Dolan.<\/p>\n 4. How much through-running are we talking here?<\/p>\n
\n \t![\"Who\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Penn-Station-with-trump-and-byford3.jpg\")
\n \t\t<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/astm-plan-for-penn-station.jpg\")
The ASTM plan from back in 2023.<\/p>\n