The Trump administration has asked Congress to direct Amtrak to rename New York Penn Station as an $8 billion redesign of the Manhattan rail hub advances.

Travelers approach the Seventh Avenue entrance to New York Penn Station.
Travelers enter New York Penn Station from Seventh Avenue in April 2013. Illustrative image; it does not depict the proposed redesign or renaming. Photo: Danazar / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Congressional request opens renaming debate

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy made the request in a Wednesday letter seeking congressional approval for the station rehabilitation and other transportation priorities. The Associated Press reported⁠ that the letter did not identify a replacement name.

Duffy previously said “Trump Station” had “a nice ring to it,” while White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt responded “Why not?” when asked about the possibility earlier this year. President Donald Trump has said politicians and construction union leaders raised the idea, not him.

No name change has been approved. Manhattan Representative Jerry Nadler called the request “ridiculous” and demanded more information about project funding. The Riders Alliance said attention should remain on service improvements, time savings and costs rather than monuments or nameplates.

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What the $8 billion station plan would change?

Amtrak is leading the redevelopment after the federal administration transferred control from New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority in 2025. The operator says the station serves more than 600,000 daily commuters and will remain open during construction.

The official Penn Station design⁠ provides a single-level, ADA-compliant concourse above the platforms, a new Eighth Avenue train hall and wider waiting areas. Plans also call for replacing cramped walkways, improving the subterranean structure, removing scores of platform-level columns and studying limited through-running. Madison Square Garden would remain in place.

The U.S. Department of Transportation⁠ awarded another $200 million in May 2026 for design and permitting. Groundbreaking is targeted before the end of 2027, after contract negotiations, permits, a federal service study, design work and financial close.

Penn Station’s name and architecture

Pennsylvania Station took its name from the Pennsylvania Railroad, which opened the original Beaux-Arts terminal in 1910. The building was demolished in 1963, leaving passengers to use underground concourses beneath Madison Square Garden.

The latest proposal returns to classical architecture with a stone facade, columns and a high-ceilinged concourse. Renderings also show Trump’s presidential seal and name on an interior wall, but the congressional request leaves the station’s eventual public name unresolved.

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