WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is planning to take over the management of D.C.’s Union Station, the travel hub for Amtrak and the city’s metro lines, the Transportation Department announced Wednesday morning.
The announcement from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy comes just over a year after Amtrak took over management and operations of the station.
“Instead of being a point of pride, Washington’s Union Station has fallen into disrepair,” Duffy said in a statement. “By reclaiming station management, we will help make this city safe and beautiful at a fraction of the cost.”
The Transportation Department said in Wednesday’s news release that the efforts were part of a broader initiative, echoing the President Donald Trump’s March executive order laying out efforts to fight crime and promote “beautification” in the capital.
The planned takeover comes as the White House has enacted sweeping efforts to reshape the law enforcement presence in the district by surging in federal agents and the National Guard, a move that has drawn mixed reactions from residents, with many expressing anger and others voicing support.
During a newss event ahead of the launch of a new high-speed train, Duffy said the Department aimed to make “investments to make sure that this station isn’t dirty, that we don’t have homelessness in Union Station. We want a place where businesses want to obtain leases.”
“Not a power play, we’ve always had it,” he added later, referring to the federal government’s ownership of the building. “But we think that we can manage the property better, bring in more tenants, bring in more revenue.”
The Transportation Department said the station needs “improvements to elevators, lighting, and security along with enhancements to the passenger experience and replacing the roof and other major systems.”
The release also referred to the station’s “potential expansion.” The Union Station Redevelopment Corporation said in 2024 that an expansion project was in the development stage.
The Transportation Department said it is renegotiating an agreement with Amtrak and the Union Station Redevelopment Corporation, which helps oversee the station and “serve as its landlord,” its website explains.
“In September, formal action confirming the USDOT’s renewed control of Washington Union Station is to be expected,” the news release said.
NBC News has reached out to Amtrak and the USRC for comment on Duffy’s announcement.
The history of Union Station, which is owned by the Federal Railroad Administration, an agency of the Transportation Department, dates back more than a century to when it opened in 1907.
In 1981, Congress passed a law that gave the transportation secretary the responsibility of Union Station’s “rehabilitation and redevelopment.” The law also laid out the goal to withdraw the federal government “from any active role in the operation and management of the Union Station complex as soon as practical,” Union Station’s website details.
Amtrak took control of the station’s management and operations in July of last year in coordination with partners like the Federal Railroad Administration.
