MTA chief accuses Penn Station's Andy Byford of going 'full MAGA'

The fight over who gets a say in rebuilding Penn Station turned personal on Thursday, when MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber accused Andy Byford, the former New York City Transit president now leading the project for Amtrak, of going "full MAGA."

Lieber was answering an op-ed Byford published Monday in the Daily News under the headline "The MTA is blocking a new Penn Station." Gothamist reported Lieber's remark and Byford's reply.

Byford's case

Byford wrote that Amtrak asked both of the station's biggest tenants, the MTA and NJ Transit, to sign on as full project partners. NJ Transit signed; the MTA, he wrote, has refused. He said basic questions sent to the MTA, such as its space requirements and its maintenance agreements, have gone unanswered, and that the delay could add costs for taxpayers. He credited Gov. Kathy Hochul's team with helping the two sides get closer to a deal, but said progress was too slow. "We are on track to deliver with or without them," he wrote, adding that Amtrak intends to break ground next year.

Byford also accused the good-government group Reinvent Albany of circulating an outdated draft of the agreement. Reinvent Albany told Our Town that it would be happy to review the latest version if Amtrak shared it.

Lieber's response

Lieber said the MTA's 130-year lease at Penn gives it the right to approve the project so it does not hurt Long Island Rail Road and subway riders. He said Amtrak wants the MTA to give up some of those rights and sign off on plans it has not seen. "We have to start getting the designs from them," Lieber said, according to Gothamist. Byford responded in a statement that he is staying out of politics and will "leave the name calling to others."

The backdrop

The Trump administration took the project away from the MTA in 2025 and handed it to Amtrak, which put Byford in charge. The rebuild is expected to cost about $8 billion, and Amtrak has yet to secure funding, Gothamist reported. Our Town reported that Hochul pulled the $1 billion the state had set aside once the federal government took over, and that Byford has said he wants Washington to cover about 80% of the cost. The MTA spent roughly half a billion dollars renovating the LIRR's side of the station, under 33rd Street, according to Our Town.

The two men worked together at the MTA from 2018 to 2020, before Byford resigned amid a dispute with then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo.