A Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan that\u2019s filled with natural light streaming through soaring ceilings onto a spacious concourse with walls made of stone and trimmed in bronze?<\/p>\n
More than a week after Amtrak announced it had chosen a developer to revive dreary Penn Station, details of the design are beginning to emerge. So is the cost: about $7 billion, according to people familiar with the plan who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s less clear is where that money will come from, and how long the project will take.<\/p>\n
Although Amtrak wrested control of the project from New York officials last year, the federal government still intends to seek help from New York and New Jersey to pay for the overhaul, these people said. Private companies also are expected to provide significant sums, they said, though what those companies will get in return has not been disclosed.<\/p>\n
Sean P. Duffy, the U.S. transportation secretary, has said that construction to transform the notoriously dingy station into a \u201cworld-class travel hub\u201d will begin in just over 18 months. But Amtrak officials have revealed few details of the plan to accomplish such a drastic turnaround so soon.<\/p>\n
The project follows several failed attempts to improve Penn Station, which was built in the 1960s to replace the original station that was considered an architectural gem. In the meantime, the grand post office building across Eighth Avenue was converted into the Moynihan Train Hall, which serves as Amtrak\u2019s base of operations in New York.<\/p>\n
Andy Byford, the Amtrak executive in charge of the project, told elected officials from Manhattan this week that it was too soon for him to divulge details of the financing plan embedded in the proposal that he recommended to Amtrak\u2019s board of directors, Brad Hoylman-Sigal, the Manhattan borough president, said.<\/p>\n
Mr. Hoylman-Sigal was one of several elected officials who criticized Amtrak for not being more transparent about the process for rebuilding the station, which stretches two full blocks beneath Midtown. \u201cIt\u2019s a little confusing to say the least,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The officials who were critical, including Representative Jerrold Nadler and Assemblyman Tony Simone, Democrats from Manhattan, gathered a few weeks ago to demand that Mr. Byford provide more information about the competing proposals for the Penn Station overhaul and whether the bidders had connections to the Trump administration.<\/p>\n
Mr. Nadler contended that Amtrak had conducted a \u201cback-door process\u201d with \u201czero accountability\u201d and \u201ca complete lack of transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n
A section of Amtrak\u2019s request for final bids for the project encouraged developers to suggest creative ways of making use of real estate surrounding the station to reduce the need for public funding. Rachael Fauss, a senior policy adviser for Reinvent Albany, a government watchdog group, said she suspected that Amtrak intended to fund the station renovation with some payments from developers that otherwise would have gone to the city as property taxes. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty clear that this is where this is heading,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Updated\u00a0<\/p>\n
May 29, 2026, 11:54 a.m. ET<\/p>\n
Vornado, a developer that owns several sites near the station, is involved in Penn Transformation Partners, the group Amtrak chose as master developer. The partnership is a joint venture between two international construction firms, Halmar and Skanska. Vishaan Chakrabarti, creative director of the architecture firm PAU, is the principal architect for the project.<\/p>\n