The Transportation Department’s move is intended to reopen stores and restaurants in the D.C. hub.
Secretary Sean Duffy announced that the Department of Transportation (DOT) will “reclaim management” of Union Station in Washington, D.C. The transportation secretary said the move was necessary to “beautify” the city, which is intended to encourage more businesses to rent space within the capital’s transit hub.
Secretary Duffy stated, “We are going to take DOT from our partners… and we are going to make the investments to make sure that this station isn’t dirty, that we don’t have homelessness in Union Station.”
Union Station was first built in 1907 under the ownership of the Federal Railroad Administration, an agency within the Transportation Department. Congress passed a law in 1981 requiring the department to oversee the station’s “rehabilitation and redevelopment,” with a goal of removing the federal government “from any active role in the operation and management of the Union Station complex as soon as practical.”
President Biden’s administration completed this process in July 2024, turning the management and operations of Union Station over to Amtrak and the Union Station Redevelopment Corporation. In his announcement, Secretary Duffy said his department would renegotiate this contract to reclaim Union Station control.
D.C. Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton stated that she is seeking more clarification on the takeover.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For Secretary Duffy to be prudent in his oversight of the renegotiation of the contract to manage Union Station.
- For Transportation Department officials as they attempt to ensure clean and safe access to public mass transit.
Sources: Roll Call, NBC News, Real Clear Politics, MSN
