New York City’s busiest rail hub could soon receive a new name — and President Donald Trump remains the most obvious candidate for the honor.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy revealed the administration’s intention to rename New York Penn Station in a July 22 letter to Senate committee leaders obtained by the New York Daily News.
Among the administration’s transportation priorities, Duffy said he would “[d]irect Amtrak to rename New York Penn Station.”
The letter did not identify a replacement name, and the administration has not formally announced that the Manhattan transit hub will become “Trump Station.” However, Duffy has previously embraced the idea.
When a reporter asked last August whether the Penn Station name would survive the federal government’s takeover of the facility’s redevelopment, Duffy replied, “I imagine you’re asking, ‘Is this going to be Trump Station?’”
“I think that has a nice ring to it,” he added, according to the Daily News.
Penn Station takes its current name from the Pennsylvania Railroad, which built the original terminal in 1910. Amtrak now owns the station, giving the federally controlled passenger rail company a central role in any potential name change.
The proposal comes as the Trump administration advances an estimated $8 billion overhaul of the station, which serves more than 600,000 passengers on a typical weekday. The project calls for a grand entrance on Eighth Avenue, higher ceilings, wider concourses, improved lighting and expanded track capacity.
The Department of Transportation took control of the long-delayed redevelopment from New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority in April 2025. Construction is expected to begin before the end of 2027 and continue in phases for approximately six years.
“The Golden Age of Transportation is coming thanks to President Trump,” Duffy said when the administration unveiled renderings of the redesigned station in June.
The secretary said Trump envisioned transforming the deteriorating station in his former hometown into a modern transit hub that could serve travelers for generations. Renderings released by Amtrak already include Trump’s name and presidential seal on an interior wall, although the exterior continues to display “Pennsylvania Station.” NBC New York reported that Madison Square Garden would remain above the station throughout the redevelopment.
Speculation about a Trump Station intensified earlier this year amid a dispute over $16 billion in federal funding for the Hudson Tunnel Project, which will build a new passenger rail tunnel between New York and New Jersey and rehabilitate the aging North River Tunnel.
Two sources familiar with the negotiations told ABC News in February that Trump offered to release the frozen funding if Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., agreed to support naming Penn Station and Washington Dulles International Airport after him. Schumer reportedly rejected the proposal.
Trump disputed that account, saying the idea came from politicians and construction union leaders.
“The naming of PENN Station (I LOVE Pennsylvania, but it is a direct competitor to New York, and ‘eating New York’s lunch!’) to TRUMP STATION, was brought up by certain politicians and construction union heads, not me — IT IS JUST MORE FAKE NEWS! NO COST OVERRUNS!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later acknowledged that Trump had discussed the proposal with Schumer.
“It was something the president floated in his conversation with Chuck Schumer,” Leavitt said. “Why not?” Time reported.
A federal judge ultimately ordered the administration to restore the tunnel funding, allowing work on the project to resume.
The Penn Station proposal follows another major transportation hub adopting the president’s name. Palm Beach International Airport was officially renamed President Donald J. Trump International Airport on July 9. The airport’s passenger code is scheduled to change from PBI to DJT on Aug. 18, according to the Palm Beach County Department of Airports.
Whether Penn Station will follow with a Trump-branded identity remains unsettled. Duffy’s letter, however, makes one part of the administration’s plan clear: The century-old Penn Station name may be nearing the end of the line.
