The Trump administration declared Wednesday it would assume control of Washington, D.C.’s Union Station, broadening its reach over the capital and setting its sights on one of America’s most storied gateways.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, in a phrase chosen to sting, said the landmark had “fallen into disrepair.” He spoke of redevelopment, of expansion, and of restoring the old terminal to what he called “a point of pride.” The promise was not merely cosmetic — it carried the charge of renewal.
“We think we can manage the property better,” Duffy said, envisioning new businesses underwriting the revival. He called the move a “power play,” echoing the administration’s takeover of the city’s police: “We are going to make the investments to make sure this station isn’t dirty, that we don’t have homelessness in Union Station.”
The timing was deliberate. Just hours later, Duffy was slated to ride the inaugural Acela train from Washington to Boston — a sleek symbol of progress paired with the rehabilitation of a station in decline. His department has already seized the reins at New York’s Penn Station, drafting Amtrak and former subway executive Andy Byford to lead its resurrection.
The Federal Railroad Administration has technically owned Union Station for more than four decades, but stewardship was delegated to the Union Station Redevelopment Corporation. Retail, once the beating heart of its concourse, was managed by a private firm until only last year.
Then came the pandemic. Passengers vanished, shops emptied, crime crept in. The proud concourse of marble and light became a shell of itself — infrastructure crumbling, the air tinged with menace. Travelers whispered of danger, of unpredictable encounters, of a place once safe and bustling now shadowed by disorder.
What was once a portal to the capital — a place of arrival, of departures grand and small — now stands as a metaphor for the city itself: frayed, diminished, waiting for restoration. The administration, with a flourish, says it intends to give it back its dignity.
Watch the clip below:
FOX NEWS ALERT: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announces the DOT will be taking control of Union Station in Washington, D.C. vowing to make it clean and safe AGAIN.
“Today, we’re announcing that we’re going to take Union Station back under DOT control… We want to make… pic.twitter.com/o2WJYhHR4K
— RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) August 27, 2025
