{"id":304361,"date":"2026-07-24T00:42:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T00:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/304361\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T00:42:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T00:42:08","slug":"sean-duffy-urges-congress-to-direct-amtrak-to-rename-new-york-penn-station-amid-8b-overhaul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/304361\/","title":{"rendered":"Sean Duffy urges Congress to \u2018direct Amtrak to rename New York Penn Station\u2019 amid $8B overhaul"},"content":{"rendered":"

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy listed renaming New York\u2019s Penn Station<\/a> as an administration priority on Wednesday, leading to speculation the nation\u2019s busiest transit hub could be rechristened in honor of President Trump as part of an $8 billion makeover<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Duffy penned a letter, sent to leaders of several Senate committees, urging Congress to \u201cdirect Amtrak to rename New York Penn Station\u201d when it reauthorizes funding for surface transportation initiatives that expire on Sept. 30.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a unique opportunity through reauthorization efforts to address key initiatives \u2013 particularly those related to transforming New York Penn Station,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Duffy did not include a suggestion for what Manhattan train hub should be called, but vowed it would be \u201cre-built into a brand-new, world-class station.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Duffy has previously said, \u201cTrump Station \u2026 has a nice ring to it.\u201d Getty Images<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Department of Transportation declined to comment on whether the administration is seeking to rename Penn Station after Trump.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), whose district includes Penn Station, called the proposal \u201cridiculous.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c[A]fter months of hiding from the public, Sean Duffy has confirmed that the Trump administration is waging a hostile takeover of Penn Station, including delivering Trump his dream of renaming Penn Station after himself,\u201d Nadler wrote on X<\/a>. \u201cI strongly oppose this ridiculous proposal and am once again demanding answers on the funding.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will be one of the most expensive projects in the country, yet the administration still has not disclosed how it will be funded or who will pay the bill.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nadler further described the Penn Station rebuild as a \u201cTrump vanity project.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duffy also asked lawmakers to approve an additional $1 billion grant for the Penn Station revamp. Christopher Sadowski for NY Post<\/p>\n

Duffy has previously hinted that Penn Station could be renamed after Trump<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI imagine you\u2019re asking, \u2018Is this going to be Trump Station?\u2019\u201d he told reporters last August. \u201cI think that has a nice ring to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is a conversation that could happen at some other point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Trump himself reportedly asked Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to back renaming Penn Station in exchange for the release of $16 billion in federal funds<\/a> for the Hudson River rail tunnel project.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Schumer reportedly told the president that he didn\u2019t have the power to deliver on the unusual request, according to CNN<\/a>. The funds were eventually unfrozen via a court order.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The feds took over the Penn Station renovation from MTA last year. Christopher Sadowski<\/p>\n

The prospect of renaming Penn Station after Trump first arose last April, when the Department of Transportation took over the renovation project from New York\u2019s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the time, New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul indicated she\u2019d be fine calling it \u201cTrump Station\u201d<\/a> if the president could get the long-stalled project completed.<\/p>\n

Renderings of the revamp<\/a> released in June showed \u201cPennsylvania Station\u201d etched into the stone facade outside the facility. Inside the station, the words \u201cPresident Donald J. Trump\u201d<\/a> were carved into a stone wall alongside the presidential seal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Aside from directing Amtrak to rename the decrepit Manhattan train station, Duffy asked senators to authorize an additional $1 billion grant for the renovation and allow Amtrak to enter into agreements to collect payments from developers in lieu of having the developers pay taxes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy listed renaming New York\u2019s Penn Station as an administration priority on Wednesday, leading to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304362,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[858,5459,153,21556,75,57,9,24,55,54,56,7968,87,3736,855,58],"class_list":["post-304361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-congress","tag-department-of-transportation","tag-donald-trump","tag-jerrold-nadler","tag-manhattan","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-penn-station","tag-politics","tag-sean-duffy","tag-senate","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304361","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=304361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}