By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Transportation Department said on Wednesday it planned to reclaim management of Washington Union Station, one of the country’s biggest rail hubs, after Trump administration officials raised safety concerns.
In March, the White House forced the CEO of U.S. passenger railroad company Amtrak, Stephen Gardner, to step down following orders by President Donald Trump.
The plan to reclaim Union Station follows Trump’s move this month to deploy hundreds of National Guard troops to Washington after he took control of the local police department over the objections of local leaders.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement the department was renegotiating a cooperative agreement with the non-profit Union Station Redevelopment Corporation, which controls the station, and Amtrak. In September, formal action confirming the USDOT’s renewed control of Union Station is expected, he added.
National Guard troops have guarded sites including Union Station and Vice President JD Vance visited soldiers at the station last week.
Amtrak is set to unveil on Wednesday new high-speed Acela trains on the busy Northeast Corridor, linking Boston to Washington, the busiest U.S. rail corridor with 800,000 daily trips in a region representing 20% of the U.S. economy.
The new trains can run at speeds up to 160 miles per hour (mph), 10 miles faster than the current trains, but they will initially only be able to run at that faster speed on a very limited portion of track until additional works are undertaken.
The new train sets built by Alstom in the United States will have 27% more seating per train. Last week, the Trump administration said it was hiking metals tariffs on imported railcars.
In April, USDOT said it would withdraw the Metropolitan Transportation Authority from leading the Penn Station Reconstruction project in New York City and instead Amtrak, backed by USDOT will oversee the project in midtown Manhattan.
Trump, during his first term, repeatedly sought to cut funding to Amtrak, which received about $2.4 billion in annual federal support in 2023. Congress in March approved $2.42 billion for Amtrak through September 30 in annual funding.
The railroad company, which has been run since March by its president Roger Harris, has not named a new CEO. It set a new passenger record last year.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Toby Chopra and Helen Popper)
