Byford Expected To Lead Penn Station Redevelopment

By Jim Mathews / President & CEO

Even though there’s no official word, it appears that Andy Byford – the former New York MTA head who wound up at Amtrak to lead high-speed rail efforts – is going back to the Big Apple to do what he does best: putting troubled programs back on track.

It was widely reported on Friday afternoon that the White House asked to put Byford in charge of the sprawling, and contentious, Penn Station Redevelopment program. Amtrak’s Board has to approve the move. Byford remains an Amtrak employee.

Just as I warmly welcomed Amtrak hiring Byford in 2023, I have to applaud this move by the Trump Administration. He has a long and impressive track record of fixing broken programs and moving seemingly unmovable bureaucracies. He was so good at it that he annoyed then Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2020, and resigned to go launch Transport for London’s Elizabeth line.

Now, New York City newspapers are trumpeting headlines about the “return of Train Daddy” to New York City, or “Daddy’s Home.” You have to be awfully good to get the New York Post AND the New York Times simultaneously on your side. But his success in turning around the City’s subway network from 2018 to 2020 after 2017’s infamous “Summer of Hell” endeared him to weary straphangers across all five boroughs, who gave him the “Train Daddy” nickname that seems to have stuck with him ever since.

As a guy with deep New York City roots, I can relate. And as someone currently serving on the Penn Station Working Group, I’m hoping that once again we at Rail Passengers will be able to work alongside him to get this thing truly underway.