Trump administration signals desire to rename New York's Penn Station, potentially after president

The Trump administration is signaling that it wants to rename New York’s Penn Station — potentially after the president, according to a new report.

In a Wednesday letter to members of Congress, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy laid out a series of “administration priorities” for the Manhattan transit hub, which is slated for an $8 billion makeover backed by federal dollars.

Duffy wrote that the administration intends to “[d]irect Amtrak to rename New York Penn Station,” according to The New York Daily News, which obtained a copy of the letter.

The secretary did not say what the new name would be, but he has previously suggested it could be rebranded in honor of the 80-year-old Republican president.

When asked last August whether the station’s old name would remain, Duffy said: “I imagine you’re asking, ‘is this going to be Trump Station?’ I think that has a nice ring to it.”

Since returning to office, President Donald Trump has reportedly employed several tactics to rename Penn Station, located in the heart of his hometown, after himself.

Last year, he froze billions of dollars in federal funding for a rail project connecting New York and New Jersey. In February, Politico reported that administration officials told Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, the money would be released if Penn Station and Washington Dulles International Airport were renamed after Trump. The president dismissed that report as “MORE FAKE NEWS.”

In April, Page Six reported that Trump tried to use a secret meeting with James Dolan, the billionaire owner of the New York Knicks, to get his name slapped on Penn Station.

“President Trump is focused on saving our country – not garnering recognition,” Davis Ingle, a White House spokesperson, told The Independent at the time.

The Department of Transportation took control of Penn Station’s redevelopment last April, and Duffy awarded Amtrak $43 million in federal grant funding to begin the project. Around that time, a billionaire backer of one of the finalists for the station’s redevelopment project — Grand Penn Community Alliance — suggested naming the hub “Trump Station.”

“This is the kind of thing that not only would Trump want to put his name on it, but should put his name on it,” Thomas Klingenstein, a Republican megadonor, told Gothamist in March. “If it comes to pass, it will be an example of one man — because Trump is the only one who can make this happen — doing a great thing.”

However, Amtrak ended up choosing another finalist for the project: Penn Transformation Partners.

In June, Penn Transformation Partners, Amtrak and Duffy unveiled renderings for what they called a “once-in-a-generation redevelopment.” The plans feature a grand new entrance, new concourses, and a large golden clock.

“The Golden Age of Transportation is coming thanks to President Trump,” Duffy said. “He had a vision to transform this dirty, falling-apart station in the middle of his hometown into a state-of-the-art transit hub that millions can enjoy for generations to come.”

During his second term, multiple institutions and pieces of infrastructure have been rebranded after Trump, including the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C. and the Palm Beach International Airport in Florida.

“A very big day in Palm Beach, Florida, where it was my Great Honor to have the Palm Beach International Airport be renamed, by a spectacular vote, The President Donald J. Trump International Airport,” Trump beamed on Truth Social earlier this month.

The Independent has contacted the Department of Transportation for comment.

Penn Station is considered the busiest railway station in the U.S., transporting some 600,000 passengers every weekday.

Originally built in 1910, it was considered a masterpiece of the Beaux-Arts style. Its destruction and rebuilding in the 1960s as part of the construction of the modern Madison Square Garden caused a storm of protest and strengthened America’s architectural preservation movement.