Penn Station Feud Brewing?

With Gov. Kathy Hochul and various advocates leaning on him to share more, Andy Byford, Amtrak’s executive in charge of rebuilding Penn Station, said he is “committed to a transparent and open process” in the selection of a Master Developer.. The project will be one of the most significant and lucrative public contract awards in modern city history.

The selection process became a source of public debate after Amtrak, which owns the station, quietly posted the names of the three finalists for the developer job on the railroad’s procurement website – and then offered no further comment about how they had been selected or what each of them is proposing. https://www.westsidespirit.com/news/then-there-were-3-mystery-bidder-unveiled-will-new-penn-plans-push-msg-AH5494471

“This could end up in a good place, but we all need to know more and there must be transparency,” Gov. Hochul said after.

In a statement to Straus News, Byford said he was scrupulously following Amtrak procurement policy and had vigorously briefed elected leaders, including the governors’ office, as well as a large advisory group of advocates and stakeholders.

“From the very start of my involvement in this project, I have committed to a transparent and open process, albeit being ever mindful of the commercial sensitivities that exist in any competitive procurement,” Byford said.

The Penn Station rebuilding project has reached a crucial and delicate stage. The Trump administration took over the project from the state last year and put Byford in charge. He issued a letter soliciting interesting from candidates for the Master Developer.

That letter, he noted, was made publicly and he made public presentations on the requirements for the job. Four groups applied and three were selected to proceed to the final round – the three names posted by Amtrak.

Byford plans to negotiate with each of the three finalists and then present his choice to the Amtrak Board for approval in May.

“Consistent again with standard Amtrak procurement process, the RFP is not shared publicly to maintain commercial confidentiality,” Byford explained about this negotiation process now. “That said, when the evaluation is complete and when I make my recommendation to the Amtrak Board in May for decision, I would expect to be able to share detail about how the decision was reached.

“In summary, therefore, the information around the first step of our procurement process has been in the public domain since November last year. The second step has now begun and is being conducted consistent with long-standing Amtrak procurement process

These negotiations cover an array of publicly significant decisions. They include the overall cost of the project and how much of it will end up being borne by taxpayers or railroad fare payers (The biggest users of the station are the Long Island Railroad, owned by New York State, and New Jersey Transit, owned by New Jersey).

Also on the table is whether the station would be expanded beyond its current footprint to accommodate service increases and whether the selected developer wants to include office or other projects in the neighborhood near the station.

In addition, the architectural design of the station remains to be decided, although Byford has noted that president Trump favors a revival of classical architecture in government buildings.

“We’re on a path and I think there should be transparency,” Hochul said. “We should all know what’s going to be happening, what the plans are, how they impact on the neighborhood, surrounding businesses. But if there is a grand ambition paid for by the federal government that meets those needs and is open and transparent, then we embrace it.”

Hochul did not say why she decided to raise the issue. One of her principal transit advisers, Janno Lieber, President of the MTA, who oversaw the project until the Trump administration took it away, has been lobbying against what he sees as an overly expensive development.

But the issue of secrecy in the selection process has also been raised by several advocates.

“Little is known beyond the names of the plans and the lead company for each plan,” Dave Colon wrote on Streetsblog, a news site focused on transportation and getting people out of their cars. https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2026/01/22/amtrak-quietly-fast-tracking-trump-penn-station-transformation

“Everyone should be able to see the RFP,” the Senior Policy Advisor of Reinvent Albany, Rachael Fauss, told Streetsblog. “Without it, we don’t know how the selection process will work, whether it’s competitive, or whether this has been pre-selected with one contractor in mind the whole time. The default is being public for these things.

“Andy Byford has been promising a transparent open process,” added Fauss. “If this RFP isn’t public, that isn’t transparent.”

In a note from Byford to Straus News he stressed that: “my team and I have conducted extensive outreach to stakeholders over the past 8 months, including the introduction of monthly elected official briefings, the resumption of SWAG meetings, multiple appearances at public facing events, briefings to state and local officials, media scrums and face to face contact with advocacy groups, community boards and concerned residents. All that will continue.”

SWAG is the station working advisory group composed of dozens of stakeholders in the Penn Station project and neighborhood. https://cdn720.s3.amazonaws.com/amtrak/uploads/2026/01/2025-11-18-SWAG-Presentation-PennT-Update-1.pdf