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ALL ABOARD: Trump Transportation Department’s Preliminary Report Highlights How Upgrades Could Increase Capacity at New Penn Station

Wednesday, July 15, 2026
America Is Building Again Delivered By President Trump and Secretary Duffy

Increase up to 32 trains per hour rate means more riders could get where they need to go quicker

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) today shared the findings from Phase One of its New York Penn Station Service Optimization Study (SOS). The preliminary report, which is based on extensive real-world modeling, analyzed how basic infrastructure improvements to New York Penn Station’s existing footprint could unlock additional train capacity and improve the passenger experience. This Phase I study is another critical milestone in the ongoing work by President Trump and Secretary Duffy to transform New York Penn Station and will help inform the ongoing track-level design work by the project’s Master Developer.

SOS Results:

The report examined a series of key upgrades, including:

  • Extending three key platforms
  • Installing additional stairs/escalators
  • Decluttering platforms
  • Improving signage

Implementing these straightforward enhancements – along with reductions in dwell times – would allow New York Penn Station capacity to increase to up to 32 trains per hour per direction in the morning peak period and 30 trains per hour per direction in the evening peak period. This roughly 33% increase comes from improved passenger flow and reduced friction in daily operations.

“Whether you are a daily commuter or a tourist, Penn Station can and should work better for you. That means reducing frustrating delays and increasing capacity,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy. “This early report underscores how the work we are doing to transform the station into a world class transit hub isn’t just a face lift – it can fundamentally improve the travel experience. I want to thank our Federal Railroad team for their hard work and look forward to the Department continuing to hit these key milestones on schedule.”

"Penn Transformation is essential to the economic vitality of New York City, New Jersey, and the entire Northeast Corridor," said FRA Administrator David Fink. “In addition to a beautiful head house, we will improve the track-level operations and infrastructure to deliver more capacity without delaying this vital project. As we continue to refine service improvements, we look forward to working with the railroad operations teams to make sure the proposed service improvements happen safely and smoothly.”

“The SOS will help us achieve four of our key objectives of the Penn Transformation project: to exponentially increase the concourse capacity, make the station fully accessible, enable for safer and more efficient station operation, and to accommodate current and future passenger growth,” said Amtrak Special Advisor Andy Byford. “When we say we’re going to bring a world-class station to New Yorkers, it’s not just about design and layout, it’s also about what the SOS will ultimately accomplish through this essential, independent, and data-driven analysis. I look forward to working with DOT, FRA and our partner railroads on phase 2 of the report and identify ways to further increase the capacity of Penn Station to meet its future needs.”

Click HERE to read more about the study and its findings.

Additional Information:

FRA is conducting the Study in two phases:

  • Phase I examined the track, platform, and vertical circulation elements (VCEs) within the existing station complex, between West 31st to West 33rd Streets and 6th to 10th Avenues.
  • Phase II is upcoming and will evaluate broader regional infrastructure and operational strategies that may further enable long-term service growth, including infrastructure beyond Penn Station, train fleets, and other important topics such as how this service growth will be managed in the future. It will also evaluate the potential to reach a higher maximum number of trains per hour. 

Throughout Phase I, FRA engaged railroad stakeholders including Amtrak, New Jersey Transit, and the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority along with its subsidiaries Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad. Phase II will build on this initial report and take input from these railroad operations teams, other independent capacity studies, and various stakeholders. This next phase will establish a broader vision for regional service growth, identifying capital projects and operational changes across the New York Metropolitan area to achieve long-term throughput goals and reliability.

Phase II will be completed in 2028.
 

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