Dive Brief:
- Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced Thursday a $466 million investment in Washington Union Station in the District of Columbia.
- The grants are part of a program to modernize the station and improve the customer experience for the 37 million people who pass through it each year, according to Amtrak and a U.S. Department of Transportation news release.
- “From basic structural repairs to beautiful, enlarged passenger concourses, today’s historic investment into Union Station will ensure Washington D.C has a world class transit hub that residents, commuters, and tourists all deserve,” Duffy said in a statement.
Dive Insight:
The Transportation Department’s action comes as part of President Donald Trump’s effort to beautify the nation’s capital, as spelled out in a March 2025 executive order, Duffy said during an event Thursday celebrating the Department of the Interior’s restoration of the Columbus Circle fountain.
“We're going to fix the roof, enhance the passenger concourses, the Amtrak lounge and the ticketing experience,” Duffy said. “We're going to maximize the station's revenue potential with retail, with parking, with office spaces, with digital signage and a lot more. We're going to improve security and we're going to invest in family-friendly infrastructure.”
The DOT took control of the nearly 120-year-old Union Station by a 1981 act of Congress at a time when the station had fallen into disrepair. Last year, the DOT restructured its longstanding management agreement with the Union Station Redevelopment Corporation, a nonprofit established by Congress in 1983, giving DOT the lead role in redeveloping the station.
“This USDOT funding represents a significant milestone in the ongoing revitalization of Washington Union Station,” Amtrak President Roger Harris said in a statement. Washington is Amtrak’s second busiest train station.
In addition to Amtrak, the station serves Maryland Transit Administration and Virginia Railway Express commuter trains, as well as Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority trains and buses. The station also houses an intercity bus terminal.
Separately, a House appropriations subcommittee passed legislation last week that includes $70 million for Union Station redevelopment.
