OP-ED: The missing details of Sen. Schumer’s announcement of $72 Million USDOT grant for Penn Station improvements

Some critical details were missing from New York Sen. Charles (Chuck) Schumer's (D-NY) announcement that he has secured $72 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) for various New York Penn Station capital improvements. Is the $72 million an approved appropriation of funding that a transit agency must still develop a grant application or apply for, or is it a real grant that includes $72 million in funding to a transit agency that is now immediately available to be spent by the grant recipient? Are these funds being administered by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA)? Is there already a Memorandum of Understanding between the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), New Jersey Transit (NJ Transit) and Amtrak for administration of these funds?  

Any approved FTA grant would include a detailed description for the scope of work.  This includes a new passageway connecting the 34th St. 6th Ave, Herald Square New York City (NYC) Transit B/D/F/M/N/R/Q/W subway lines, along with 18 new escalators, 11 elevators and eight new street entrances at Penn Station. What about including the PATH Herald Square station? I guess they are not considering reopening the old Hilton Corridor (also known as the Gimbels Passageway) that decades ago provided a direct underground connection from the Herald Square subway/PATH complex to Penn Station before being closed in 1986. Will Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Trans Hudson (PATH) subway riders also be able to easily access this new connection? Will there be a free transfer connection to the NYC Transit 7th Ave. 1/2/3 subway lines?   

When I worked for the FTA Region 2 New York Office serving as the director for the Office of Operations and Program Management, overseeing the MTA's federally funded capital program, It would be standard procedure for the grant to also include detailed descriptions for location of all work, budget for each project component, interim project milestones and staffing plan for grant management activities. These milestones would include progress milestones for the procurement process to hire design and engineering consultants, as well as advancement of design and engineering and obtaining any utility, municipal, state or federal permits necessary for advancement of future construction contracts.   

How many years will it take to advance design and engineering (reviewed and approved by MTA, NYC Transit, Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), NJ Transit and Amtrak operations, maintenance and other departments) before the project is ready for the next phase of construction?   

Design and engineering usually averages five to 10 percent of a capital project cost. Who is going to come up with the $648 to $ 684 million for construction; independent third party engineering construction management firms to assist in oversight and contingency funding for construction bids coming in above the project cost estimator; and contract change orders during construction due to unforseen site conditions or late requests by LIRR, NYC Transit, NJ Transit and Amtrak operations or maintenance groups?

Interesting to note that this project was not included in the MTA FTA Federal Fiscal Year 2024 Proposed Program of Projects public hearing notice published earlier this year for potential FTA federal grant funding. 

Commuters, taxpayers, transit advocates, MTA, NJ Transit and Amtrak board members, MTA, LIRR, NJ Transit and Amtrak employees, local city, state and federal elected officials, along with neighborhood residents and businesses interested in the future of Penn Station, deserve access to these details.