Andy Byford has been to church, specifically St. John the Baptist, just south of Penn Station, the French Gothic work of famed ecclesiastical architect Napoleon LeBrun. He has also visited the last above-ground remnant of the late, lamented Penn Station, a McKim, Mead and White powerhouse on that same block, owned by his employer, Amtrak.
He has walked the entire superblock around Penn Station and descended into its caverns. He has met with James Dolan, whose Madison Square Garden sits atop the decapitated station like a dental implant, as well as with Steven Roth, whose Vornado Realty Trust owns much of the property around the station.
“My dance card is full of meetings,” said Byford, speaking for the first time in public since the Trump administration took over the reconstruction of Penn Station and put him in charge.
To make the point that he plans to do something big with his assignment, Byford said he had renamed the task, from “reconstruction” to “transformation.”
“I’ve come into this with an absolute open mind,” Byford said. “What I do know is that the existing station—it’s been there, it’s done its job. But it’s way below par as to what New Yorkers and Americans, to be frank, and anyone in New York State, should expect. We can do better than this. We want to totally transform every aspect of Penn Station.”
The event where Byford chose to make these remarks was itself part of his message. He showed up at the Purple Tongue Wine Bar on West 43rd Street for a reception hosted by Samuel Turvey to thank members of his Empire Station Coalition for their work in resisting plans by the railroads that use Penn Station to tear down the block to the south, home to the church, the powerhouse, apartment buildings, and various small businesses.
Byford brought a piece of news that the coalition has been calling for. He revealed that the Federal Railway Administration would conduct an independent review of how trains—trains belonging to both Amtrak and the commuter railroads—run in and out of the station, to see whether it is really necessary to physically expand the station to get the increased capacity the railroads say they need.
“An independent service-optimization study for New York Penn,” is how a spokesman for the FRA characterized what they planned to commission.
Turvey and his group had been arguing for two years for this independent review, and that Byford, who has run transit systems on three continents, should be brought in to resolve the Rubik’s Cube of competing goals and interests that have produced incremental improvements but great frustrations about the station.
“Part of my job is to talk to everyone and to get an absolute kaleidoscope of views,” he told the gathering. “Because everyone’s views are important. I know that there’s a lot of very strong feelings about this. People said to me, ‘Well, you do realize there’s a lot of real big personalities involved in this, and you’re never going to get consensus.’ But we’ll see about that.”
Byford, who is originally from Plymouth, England, said he planned a “good bit of British diplomacy” to forge a plan.
“I’m really up for it. I think the hard work starts now. But what I can tell you is, Watch this space. We are going to deliver you a totally transformed state-of-the-art, beautiful Penn Station.”
“Big personalities” barely captures it. President Trump approved Byford’s appointment after a meeting at the White House. Garden owner Dolan is central to the conversations in part because some, although not all, plans for the future of Penn Station involve moving the Garden and virtually any changes at Penn Station impinge on the Garden in some way.
“I have met Mr. Dolan,” Byford said. “I immediately felt I had a good relationship with him. He was very welcoming, and he clearly is very proud of his facility. I’ve been to MSG lots of times. I’ve seen concerts there, I’ve seen basketball there, and I’ve seen hockey there. So I think he is one of many very key partners in this job, one of the many people, myriad people, that I’ve spoken with, and one of the many partners that we will have to involve as this plan emerges.”
Vornado’s Roth is another key player. Indeed, one proposal calls for moving the Garden to a site across Seventh Avenue where Vornado, the owner, recently tore down its historic Pennsylvania hotel. Roth has said he wants to build a supertall tower on the site.
“So he is someone else I made an early point of meeting with,” Byford said. “My dance card is full of meetings, people I need to meet, and a lot of them I already have. But Steve was very gracious. He gave me a good reception. He talks about the issues, and he talks about some of his missions for the future. I respect him. He respects the job that I have to do.”
The complexity of Byford’s task became quickly apparent even in his brief colloquy with the community activists in the wine bar.
One activist, John Mudd of the Midtown South Community Council, noted the desperate need for more affordable housing, a question that might seem separate from transforming a rail station, except that Andrew Cuomo, when he was governor, tethered the Penn Station plans to a redevelopment of the surrounding neighborhood.
Governor Hochul later said she was “decoupling” the redevelopment from plans for the station. But the redevelopment is still on the books and calls for up to 10 new office towers, many by Vornado. Critics say what is really needed is more residential housing.
“I’ve got to be careful,” Byford demurred. “It’s a big enough challenge as it is to oversee the transformation of Penn, with all of the considerations that that entails, and all the personalities involved, and the history involved, and the strength of feeling involved. I’m not sure I can also take on this public housing, etc. But I take your point.
“Let’s see where this goes. We intend to do this expeditiously but properly. We’re not going to circumvent a proper process. We intend doing events where we talk to people. It’s one of the reasons I turned up today. People said to me, ‘You sure you want to go to this event?’ And I said, ‘Absolutely, because I should be out talking to people and answering questions.’ I can’t answer all of them, at the moment. But the one thing you get with me is a straight answer and a fair hearing.”
Byford, by the way, was also asked how it would affect his task if Cuomo, who was instrumental in pushing Byford out of his role as head of the city’s subways and buses, succeeded in coming back as NYC mayor. Exercising his English diplomacy, Byford said he would not forecast an election and that in any case that was a decision for voters to make.
Both Turvey and Byford stressed that Byford was maintaining a “neutral” stand on the key issues around transforming the station, even ones on which he has previously expressed leanings, such as the value of running commuter trains through the station rather than, as now, terminating their runs there.
This will presumably be a key question in the “optimization” review of the FRA, and Byford stressed that it would be good to have the facts before making decisions. He suggested the most likely outcome was probably a mix of through-running and terminal runs.
He also stressed that there would be “a competition” for the best plans and said the details of that competition would be disclosed in the near future.
The Trump administration has said it wants the project to be conducted as a public-private partnership, in which much of the work and at least some of the investment is handled by a private company.
“There are a number of proposals on the table,” Byford said. “I’ve seen them all, or at least the ones that we know of so far. I want an open and transparent competition to inform what the future should look like. But I’m already clear in my mind that it’s more than bricks and mortar. That’s what I’m saying. That’s why I changed the name of my group from Penn reconstruction to Penn transformation. It’s not just bricks and mortar. It’s got to be everything. The way the service is offered. The way the staff interact. The way the customer service is provided. The wayfinding. Everything. I want you guys—you’re the New Yorkers—I want you to be so proud of the best station in the world.”
“I want you guys—you’re the New Yorkers—I want you to be so proud of the best station in the world.” — Andy Byford, who heads up the rebuild of Penn Station