On Friday, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy did a tour of Penn Station along with Andy Byford, the former TA president who was given the name “Train Daddy” by New Yorkers and has now been assigned by President Trump and Duffy to finally fix the decrepitness as special advisor to the Amtrak Board of Directors.
Duffy posted on Twitter/X a 58-second video that captures many of the problems.
The two are seen outside of Madison Square Garden/Penn on the Eighth Ave. side and walking through the low and dingy Hilton Passageway (which is Amtrak’s responsibility) into the very stupid multilevel NJTransit concourse and they walk along one of the NJT platforms (four of which, Tracks 1-4, are too short and must be lengthened to accommodate 12-car consists).
While standing on the Exit Concourse near Tracks 1 and 2 (and the 1910 balustrade down the platforms from the original Penn Station in the background behind them with its brass bannisters and wrought-iron balusters) they make their case.
Duffy: We’re here in Penn Station. We’re talking about a rebuild of Penn Station. This project should have been done 20 years ago, hasn’t. Donald Trump cares about it. So what do we do? We brought in Andy, the Train Daddy, to help us actually manage this project and bring it forward. Andy?
Byford: Well, thank you Mr. Secretary, thank you for giving me this opportunity. And it is truly a golden opportunity, because you just look around this station, there are 600,000 people a day use this facility. But look at it. It’s terrible. This is not worthy of the city of New York. It is not worthy of the U.S. We have a golden opportunity, under your leadership, under President Trump’s leadership, to transform this space and to give something truly iconic back to New Yorkers.
Duffy: I know this script. This is not worthy of America. So let’s build a beautiful Penn Station that will serve America and New York for 150 years to come. That’s why we were all going to work together to make this project happen.
Byford: Let’s get it done.
Absolutely, let’s get it done.
