Amtrak is charged with rebuilding Penn Station. Its record on projects is rail-ly bad.

America’s beleaguered national railroad is now in charge of what could be one of New York City’s most ambitious public works projects in recent memory.

The Trump administration yanked the Penn Station redevelopment project from the MTA earlier this month, citing its “history of inefficiency, waste and mismanagement.” U.S. Transportation Scretary Sean Duffy put Amtrak in charge of delivering what he called “a world-class Penn Station.”

But a look at Amtrak’s recent history shows its own watchdog inspector general routinely finding evidence of inefficiency, waste and mismanagement.

“The company has faced challenges conducting adequate program planning, leading to cost overruns and delays,” Amtrak's Inspector General Kevin Winters told a congressional committee in September of last year.

One example of those problems with project management can be found just across the street from Penn Station at Moynihan Train hall, which opened in 2021.

Winters noted Amtrak underestimated costs for its section of Moynihan Train Hall by $72.8 million. Put another way, it undershot its original estimate by 69% "because it did not initially budget for basic costs that a major project would typically include, such as construction management," the inspector general wrote.

Amtrak has also long been the subject of mockery from rail buffs, who scoff at what counts as “high speed” in the United States. The agency’s fastest train, the Acela, can go 150 miles per hour, although it travels much slower in the dense Northeast Corridor due to speed restrictions and aging power systems. High-speed trains in other countries like Japan and China exceed 200 mph.

Amtrak's new Acela trains, which would top out at 160 miles per hour, are years behind schedule. Winters also noted that Amtrak went ahead with production of the new trains before it received the necessary approvals from the Federal Rail Administration.

The agency is helping lead the replacement of the Portal North Bridge as part of the Gateway Project, which centers around the construction of a new tunnel for trains beneath the Hudson River. The century-old swing bridge is a notorious chokepoint for trains entering and leaving Manhattan. The bridge often gets stuck open, causing delays throughout the Northeast Corridor. There have been three groundbreakings for the bridge’s replacement, but the work is finally underway.

Amtrak is a key leader of the project, which the inspector general wrote last September could fall behind schedule if the railroad doesn’t cooperate with NJ Transit when planning outages and sharing labor.

NJ Transit and Amtrak officials also butted heads amid a summer of headaches last year for riders on both lines due to widespread electrical failures. None of Amtrak’s overhead power lines from Washington, D.C. to New York are in a state of good repair. A recent report from Amtrak noted it will likely need $4.6 billion to address the backlog of power system issues in the Northeast Corridor. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said this month that the infrastructure problems causing persistent delays are on track to be addressed.

Delays due to poor planning are a recurring problem with Amtrak, according to Alon Levy, one of the lead researchers on NYU’s Transit Cost Project.

“Its main problem is really bad project prioritization. It's over-focusing on things that don't have any tangible frequency or speed benefits to passengers,” Levy said. “It duct tapes failing pieces of infrastructure together instead of having any clear vision.”

Major construction work is relatively new to Amtrak. Prior to President Joe Biden’s 2021 infrastructure law, Amtrak had barely spent $2 billion a year on capital projects, according to the inspector general. After the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the railroad suddenly had $66 billion to manage.

Yet the inspector general found last September that Amtrak still lacked a centralized system for managing its contracts, which makes it difficult for the inspector general to track waste and mismanagement. He said the disorganization exposes Amtrak to legal risk.

None of this bodes well for an agency trying to figure out how to reconstruct Penn Station. The project presents a massive logistical challenge that involves Madison Square Garden, which is on top of the station, along with three train lines (the MTA, Amtrak and NJ Transit), and concerns from lawmakers, the public and a federal administration cutting its workforce.

“ There are some decided red flags around the Penn Station realignment,” said Sean Jeans-Gail, the vice president of government affairs and policy at the Rail Passengers Association.

Jeans-Gail said the issues at Amtrak start at the top, where the CEO’s chair is vacant. CEO Steven Garnder resigned last month, saying he quit “to ensure that Amtrak continues to enjoy the full faith and confidence of this administration.” No replacement has been named.

Jeans-Gail said the Trump administration has made contradictory moves with Amtrak in recent months. The same week Duffy put Amtrak in charge of Penn Station's multibillion-dollar renovation, he canceled $63.9 million in funding for a high-speed rail project in Texas.

“ I don't think there's been like this grand unified theory of what Amtrak’s role should be,” Jeans-Gail, said.

Elon Musk’s DOGE agency has threatened layoffs at Amtrak, just as the railroad hired staff to work on all of the new projects on its plate.

Amtrak spokesperson Jason Abrams said the agency was best positioned to improve Penn Station.

"Over the past few years, we have significantly ramped up our delivery capacity, hiring highly qualified construction professionals who bring extensive project experience, including many who specialize in innovative project delivery methods such as public-private partnerships," Abrams said in a statement.

Amtrak is about to begin rehabilitation on its tunnels in the East River to fix damage from superstorm Sandy. It shares those tracks with the Long Island Rail Road, and MTA Chair Janno Lieber isn’t confident Amtrak is up to the task.

“ I'm very worried,” he told WNYC’s “The Brian Lehrer Show” last week. “They're finally getting around to it now, and I am focused on making sure that they don't screw up service.”

Nevertheless, City Club President Layla Law-Gisiko said Amtrak does have “world-class leadership.” She pointed to former NYC Transit President Andy Byford, who is now in charge of high-speed rail at Amtrak. After leaving his post at the MTA in 2020, Byford worked for Transport for London, where he oversaw the completion of a major $23 billion expansion of the rail network.

“ I think that ‘Train Daddy’ Andy Byford has proven time and again that he's very capable. Maybe it is time that he's brought back to New York,” Law-Gisiko told Gothamist.

Byford didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Some experts who study transit systems around the world, like Levy at NYU, believe the whole Penn Station project is unnecessary.

“Neither Amtrak nor the MTA should be focusing on it. The MTA should focus on delivering better commuter rail, subway, and bus service and Amtrak on better intercity rail,” Levy said.