The Trump administration and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy announced today Andy Byford will be Special Advisor to the Amtrak Board of Directors for the redevelopment of New York Penn Station.
A local Manhattan newspaper broke the news last week that Byford will lead Penn Station’s overhaul, although his official title wasn’t public then. The news has already been hailed as a win for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), through-running advocates, and congestion pricing supporters.
“Andy shares our dedication to keeping costs down and completing this project on time. Together we’ll work to deliver a brand-new Penn Station that is safe, clean, and worthy of the American people,” Duffy said in a statement.
Byford’s appointment will have real implications for the New York City train shed’s future redesign, a tug of war match between multiple competing parties—the Regional Plan Association (RPA), ReThinkNYC, the ASTM/PAU/HOK coalition, the Grand Penn Community Alliance, City Club of New York, Beaux-Arts Atelier, and other advocacy groups, each with overlapping yet conflicting proposals, interests, and donors.
“This is good news,” MTA Chief, Policy and External Relations John J. McCarthy said in a statement.
“Governor Hochul has welcomed the Trump Administration’s decision to step up and make good on its commitment to advance and finance this project,” McCarthy added. “We look forward to working with Andy Byford, who understands the importance of mass transit and was a strong supporter throughout our battle to implement congestion pricing in New York.”
“With Andy Byford at the helm, we finally have someone who knows New York, respects infrastructure, understands the merits of through-running, and leads like a true public servant,” Layla Law-Gisiko, City Club of New York president, told AN.
Liam Blank, a former ReThinkNYC and MTA employee who now chairs the City Club of New York’s Transportation Committee, also applauded Byford’s appointment. “What Andy Byford brings to Penn Station is liberation from a half-century of learned helplessness,” Blank added.
“We’ve internalized the fiction that our rail networks are too complex to integrate, that our unions are too intransigent to coordinate, that our agencies are too territorial to collaborate. It’s the infrastructure equivalent of Stockholm syndrome,” Blank added. “[Byford’s] seen firsthand how London’s Thameslink transformed a bottleneck into a boulevard. Now his challenge is to prove that here, too, operational brilliance can cure what brute force and billions in concrete cannot.”
What’s Next?
Amtrak has historically ruled out through-running’s application at Penn Station, but Byford’s new appointment is seen by many as a boost for the cause—Byford oversaw the Elizabeth Line, which brought new east-west through-running service in London (and won the 2024 Stirling Prize).
Byford vocalized support for through-running service at Penn Station after stepping in as executive vice president in charge of high-speed rail for Amtrak in 2023, defying years of entrenched thinking against the concept.
ReThinkNYC, a think tank founded by Jim Venturi steered by Sam Turvey, has long advocated for through-running service at Penn Station. “We all have been promised a world class Penn Station for years, and we now have a world class transit leader to help us get there,” Turvey told AN after the news broke.
“This is an incredibly complex challenge that has to accommodate many competing interests,” Turvey continued. “When Andy Byford spoke in favor of evaluating through-running options at Penn Station, he was only speaking in alignment with international best practices and the FRA’s own guidelines, which favor through-running over terminal track expansion—period. It never should have been so controversial.”
Turvey also said he thinks, “the public should be allowed to debate the different, present station choices.”
PAU’s Vishaan Chakrabarti, as part of the ASTM and HOK coalition, shared Turvey’s enthusiasm. “We are thrilled by the appointment of Andy Byford, whose track record of successful and truly public infrastructure delivery is unrivaled,” Chakrabarti told AN.
The Grand Penn Community Alliance is another advocacy group vying for a different Penn Station future, together with National Civic Art Society (NCAS) and architect Alexandros Washburn. That coalition, backed by Thomas D. Klingenstein, has a vision for a neo-Beaux-Arts redesign.
“We are delighted that Andy Byford has been appointed to oversee the redevelopment of Penn Station,” NCAS president Justin Shubow told AN. “Not only is he incredibly competent, back in 2023, he said that any overhaul of the station should include moving Madison Square Garden. We couldn’t agree more. No magnificent, let alone safe, station is possible without relocating the arena.”
The Beaux-Arts Atelier, founded by architect Richard Cameron, has likewise designed a McKim, Mead & White–inspired Penn Station competing proposal, albeit with Madison Square Garden in situ.
Although some say Byford has the juice to get Madison Square Garden (MSG) moved, the relocation is complicated by President Trump’s kindred relationship with MSG owner Jimmy Dolan, and Trump’s own affinity for the venue. “I think Jim probably likes his location sitting on top of all the trains,” Trump said recently at a press conference. “I can’t blame him, necessarily.”
As former MTA New York City Transit President, quarrels between Byford and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo regularly made headlines. Should Cuomo win the 2025 New York City mayoral race, this antagonism will likely play out in the media cycle again, and further complicate the planning process.
Rich Azzopardi, a spokesperson for Andrew Cuomo, said “we’ll keep [our] powder dry on this one” when AN reached out for a comment.
Disclaimer: The author previously worked for ReThinkNYC.
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