Washington (AP) – The Administration of President Donald Trump takes the management of Union station far from Amtrak In the last example of the federal government exercising its power over the national capital.
Transport secretary Sean Duffy announced the takeover Wednesday alongside the president of Amtrak, Roger Harris, in Washington Main transport center When launching an update version of the Acela train from the rail service. The federal government has a union station, which is near the Capitol.
Duffy said the station “fell into ruins” when it should be a “pride” for the District of Columbia. He said that the republican administration’s decision would help embellish the landmark in an economical way and were in accordance with Trump’s vision.
“He wants Union Station to be beautiful again. He wants transit to be safe again. And he wants the capital of our country to be large again. And in fact today,” said Duffy.
It’s trump Last attempt to put the city under its control. In recent weeks, Trump has increased the number of federal agents of the application of laws and immigration to the city streets while taking control of the Metropolitan Police Department and activating thousands of members of the National Guard. Last week, Trump said He wants $ 2 billion in Congress To embellish Washington.
Duffy said the federal government can do a better work to manage the station and attract more stores and restaurants and generate more income that will be used to pay for the station’s improvements, which opened in 1907. Since then, the Caverneux building in Roman collaboration, security and the management sector.
Mayor Muriel Bowser said that upgrading the transit center which serves various railway lines and bus would be an “incredible initiative” for the federal government because the city cannot afford the cost.
“He suffered from not being able to obtain the money she needs for renovation,” said the Democrat at a separate press conference.
The national guard troops have patrolled Union Station and the surrounding area since Trump announced the anti-crime effort this month. Vice-President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were shouted by opponents of federal intervention when They visited the troops There last week.
Duffy had pressed Amtrak about the crime at the station in a letter from March to his chief of the farm and asked for a updated plan on the way he intended to improve public security there.
Deputy Transport Secretary Steve Bradbury, has cited a new roof and new public toilets among $ 170 million in improvements which, according to him, are necessary at the station.
The new high-speed train from Amtrak, NextGen Acela, will start at the Northeast corridor on Thursday, Harris, president of Amtrak said. Trains can travel at speeds up to 160 mph, about 10 mph faster than the Acela train it replaces. Duffy and the officials of the Union station event have set up on one of the new trains for an inaugural trip to Penn Station in New York.
Union Station had history of ups and downs during its almost 120 years of history.
In 1981, after the rain began to flow through the ceiling, the National Park Service, which has jurisdiction over a part of the area surrounding the station, said the building was dangerous. The station was closed for five years for the renovation and President Ronald Reagan signed the Law on the redevelopment of the union station To help finance and organize your return.
More recently, the building fell on relatively difficult moments during the cocovid pandemic. Pedestrian traffic dropped after passengers avoided public transport while several stores closed at the station. But the last three years have had a little return.
The station has sometimes been a magnet for the homeless who are looking for a shelter inside or the campsite in tents on Columbus Circle in front of the building. The proliferation of tents prompted the service to the park to clean the camp in front of the station in June 2022.
The control and management of the physical building have also changed over the years.
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The writer Associated Press Ashraf Khalil contributed to this report.
