The Trump administration is moving to take control of Union Station, putting Washington’s iconic rail hub at the heart of federal assertive infrastructure control.
Trump Administration Plans Takeover Of Union Station In DC
The U.S. Department of Transportation, led by Secretary Sean P. Duffy, announced today that it will assume management of Union Station through a new cooperative agreement with Amtrak and the Union Station Redevelopment Corporation. The goal is to revitalize the aging station with upgrades like new elevators, improved lighting, and a replaced roof—efforts long overdue. The Federal Railroad Administration, which has owned Union Station for 44 years and is also a federal agency, will oversee the transition.
This move follows President Trump’s recent federal takeover of D.C. policing, complete with National Guard deployments and high-visibility operations around the station, a clear escalation in federal oversight across the capital.
Union Station has struggled with deferred maintenance, safety concerns, and a spike in homelessness. While Amtrak has taken steps using eminent domain to reclaim retail space and reopened a platform to improve flow, the hub has been in slow decline amid half-empty retail corridors and outdated infrastructure. Federal spending of up to $29 million has been earmarked for repairs as part of this shift.
Under President Trump and Secretary Duffy’s leadership, USDOT will now leverage the valuable commercial aspects of Union Station, under the direct management of USRC, to reinvest in Union Station. The capital needs of Union Station include improvements to elevators, lighting, and security along with enhancements to the passenger experience and replacing the roof and other major systems.
Duffy framed the move as a necessary intervention to protect a key piece of infrastructure. It positions the federal government not just as regulator, but as direct operator—mirroring its involvement in other iconic stations like New York’s Penn Station. Today also marks the launch of Amtrak’s next-generation Acela high-speed train, which will operate between Washington and Boston.
> Read More: Amtrak Acela First Class New York – Washington Review
Federal troops have been posted in and around Union Station since President Trump’s takeover of city policing on August 11, 2025.
Union Station Is Special To Me…
I lived in Washington, DC on Capitol Hill and frequently used Union Station for Metro, Amtrak, and MARC service. That was almost 20 years ago now, during the station’s heyday…it was a safe and bustling place then, without a homeless infestation. I enjoyed many meals and many trips from this station.
Speaking of Washington, DC, I don’t support federal troops in the District, and it is not because I hate Trump or deny there is a crime problem. Rather, it’s because I’ve traveled to places where the military is everywhere…in Russia, Belarus, Lebanon, and Afghanistan. These are not free nations and as I read it, the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act prevents this sort of action, regardless of intentions, even in the federal district. We see in El Salvador that people are very happy to sacrifice some civil liberties to be safe…it’s a natural human tendency…but if everything is an “emergency” then nothing is an emergency. As we saw during the pandemic, emergencies cannot run for years (by definition)….and fears over a “slow-moving coup” are not the delusion of the left wing, but a reasonable concern of all people who value the Constitution (listen to yesterday’s cabinet meeting…)
For now, I’m watching all of this unfold, wondering when and why “conservatives” started embracing the federal government taking such an active role in managing the economy. I thought the appeal of this movement was one based on the notion of limited government and free trade…
In any case, Duffy promises a new and improved Union Station for DC residents in the weeks ahead.
CONCLUSION
This takeover of Union Station marks another turning point: infrastructure rehabilitation or federal overreach? For travelers and rail advocates, it may finally mean long-awaited safety fixes and modernization. For critics, it’s a stark reminder of expanding federal power in public life. Whether the takeover brings welcome renewal or simply federal control dressed as improvement…only time will tell.
“Infestation”! Love it.
Thanks for calling it out for exactly what it is, but know using that phrase is considered “racist and insensitive” by the woke mob.
Then again, homeless is a well, the correct term is “unhoused”.
From ChatGPT
“Terms to avoid
“The homeless”:
This is a dehumanizing collective noun that refers to people as a group rather than individuals.
Funny to live your life by what Chat GPT dictates, good luck with that…
Racist Dave, our little Adolf, has no sign of Natural Intelligence, which is why he is so dependent on Artificial Intelligence.
Only 6 more days to another Taco Tuesday buddy. Make sure not to spend all the pesos you made yesterday on phone cards to send back home.
Also avoid hanging out at Home Depot, they are easy targets for ICE to pick up your amigos and send them back home.
Always the same Taco bullshit, little Adolf.
Talk to Chatgpt to be more creative.
I’m loving the taco tuesday jokes though.
If it makes you feel better I could go back to the “you missed a spot cleaning my toilet” narrative.
Meanwhile I’m still busy putting fake reports up on ICEblock to try and keep beaners from showing up to work at known places that hire criminals.
At least you admit you hate Trump
I asked Google for the top ten cities in the US with homeless infestations and Google AI did not challenge my politically incorrect question, but it did return a top ten list based on 2024 estimates by HUD:
New York
Los Angeles
Chicago
Seattle
Denver
San Diego
San Jose
Oakland
Phoenix
San Francisco
(Notice Washington, DC did not make the list)
Next I asked Google what do New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Denver, San Diego, San Jose, Oakland, Phoenix and San Francisco have in common in terms of political leadership?
Google returned this answer:
Based on the current mayors or recent mayoral results, a commonality in the political leadership of New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Denver, San Diego, San Jose, Oakland, Phoenix, and San Francisco is that all have Democratic mayors.
What does that prove? Just about every large city has a democrat mayor. Large cities will naturally have more homeless people. Would you expect some republican led backwoods to have the largest homeless population?
The rise in homelessness, open drug use and open drug sales in linked with legalization of Marijuana in some states. Canada started being like this when Justin Trudeau allowed Marijuana use and even used it himself.
I asked chatgpt for the least educated states:
West Virginia
Mississippi
Louisiana
Alabama
Arkansas
Oklahoma
After fixing up Union Station, how about cleaning up the area around the San Francisco Moscone Convention Center and Downtown SF. Use federal troops to take over LAX, direct traffic, use Bradley armored troops carriers to shuttle passengers, and Army Corp of Engineers to help construction companies renovate the terminals. Build terminal 9 and Concourse 0 before the 2028 Olympics.
Right wrong or otherwise I find Rupar’s tweets/ X posts on politics often lack materially relevant context generally to paint the protagonist of the tweet in a different light than their originally painted context.
Perhaps, but even in context the “dictator” statements are jarring.
Union Station redevelopment has been an argument for years. With its immense size, Amtrak wants a transport center. ( bus, ride share etc ) . I would suggest, it could be the site of the new WH ballroom. We need not tear down the east wing, spend 200 million for a faux Rococo Mar- a – logo ballroom that seats 650 guests. Ridiculous when a beautiful space is a mile from both the Capitol building and the white house.
Serious questions, Matthew…
Were you aware that the National Guard has been in NYC since September 11th, 2001?
Were you also aware that NY Governor Hochul deployed the National Guard to the subway system in 2024:
“The governor deployed 750 guardsmen in March 2024 to do bag checks in the city’s subways after a series of underground attacks, including the slashing of a train conductor and passengers being pushed onto the tracks.”
Serious question Andrew,
Does federal overreach apply to a state governors control of its national guard? What does federal mean?
So it’s your position that the National Guard is okay to use as long as it’s the state deciding to use them and not the Feds.
Got it.
As a Christian Mathew, please don’t use infestation when referring to human beings. Your children might also one day be homeless, Basic Humanity. We know that you didn’t mean it, but the bigots will jump on it.
You don’t have to like Trump but he IS taking the bull by the horns with a lot of this stuff. It wouldn’t have been necessary had it not been allowed to deteriorate in the first place. Anybody who spent any time here in the late 90’s and early to mid 00’s can attest to just how vibrant this place once was. The shops, the food hall on the lower level, the train display at Christmas…..all of it. It was magical. Now, it’s a shithole.
What’s your point? Who gets the credit for the transformed navy yard district? I don’t think federal troops were responsible for its revitalization.
Shouldn’t you be F’ing your husband and corrupting that poor kid you deviants were allowed to adopt against common sense?
By the way, you have no shot in 28 as the blacks will never vote for a man that takes c#ck in his mouth. The days of Lincoln and Kennedy being allowed to get away with it are long gone.
Like how the oval office has deteriorated and now he is bringing it back to life and with all that awesome gold!!!
And how heath care in the USA has deteriorated and now is banning vaccines and cancer research!!!
Hahaha. You are a loser!
You are someone who is easy to manipulate.
To be fair, a lot of the posters here like sh#tholes in a figurative sense from the places they travel to.
And of course we have Aaron who loves them in reality and sees them as a sex object.
Dave is right! Many of you have no problem seeing our cities devolve into chaotic homelessness, drug abuse, and gang violence, yet get all pissy when Trump decides to do something about it.
Speaking of piss, Aaron sees that as a sex fluid too.
I share the concerns over violence in US cities…but as a conservative institutionalist who loves the Constitution, I believe the ends do not justify the means…you can disagree with me, but I’m not coming at this in a different way than from the left.
Chi Hsuan, there has been an ongoing medical study for ten years, ( updated and peer reviewed) published in jama. The most US drug abusers reside in rural republican counties, much higher than democrats. The DEA needs their masks and weapons out of DC and into these areas.
Had DC’s Union Station been properly maintained, the Feds wouldn’t have had to take over. If it takes Fed control to properly maintain such a beautiful building, so be it.
So you think the federal government is competent to do that? Do you think the federal government is competent in other areas too?
US law generally prohibits regular troops from acting as law enforcement within the US. These are national guard, mostly MPs, who can expressly be used for this. These are not full-time soldiers for the most part, but do this part-time. They are your neighbors and friends. Or they are if you are middle class, which most people flying international J are not. Incidentally, the ability of the President to override a Governor on the use of the guard was tested and resolved by the Supreme Court back in the Reagan administration.
For emergencies…but is it an emergency? And if it is an emergency, then what isn’t an emergency?
“For emergencies “ is not the rule.
Having the National Guard doing litter pick-up and gardening duty in the District is no good use of the National Guard, but that’s a lot of what I’ve seen. These people have families and employers whose home and workplaces are being disrupted by this regime’s fabricated “emergency” call-up. It’s unfair to those who serve the country this way and it’s also unnecessarily expensive.
“I don’t support federal troops in the District, and it is not because I hate Trump or deny there is a crime problem. Rather, it’s because I’ve traveled to places where the military is everywhere…in Russia, Belarus, Lebanon, and Afghanistan.”
It is likely the people that think Trump’s current actions are acceptable/a good idea likely have never visited countries like Matthew.
Or were raised by the parent who grew up in Hitler’s Germany.
Tell me you are an elitist who doesn’t know anyone serving in the guard without telling me you are an elitist who doesn’t know anyone serving in the guard.
I’m missing something. All of the agencies mentioned, including Amtrak, have a Federal connection. This doesn’t seem to be a takeover, but improved management.
I dont know what Union Station is like today, but I had meetings Thursdays and Fridays once a month for a year about two blocks from Union Station. We were encouraged to use public transportation. I tried Metro once and the MARC train once. Never again walking around and through that station.
I wish it the best.
LOL Murica!
Many good points here, but overshadowed by a man who claims to be a Christian likening people without homes to insects. This is disgusting. They are still human beings God loves, as you would say. “Infestation” is utterly reprehensible and irresponsible.
What do you do with people who flat out REFUSE to cooperate with the multiple forms of assistance that they’re afforded?
I was in Paris not that long ago and watched soldiers/police (not sure which) in military uniforms, armed with what many consider assault-type rifles, walking in pairs around tourist areas. They were very conspicuous. I did not feel I was in a police state or that France was under martial law. Their presence made me feel safe.
France likes its armed shows of farce. A bunch of state actors not routinely and frequently vetted for mental and political health being allowed to run around with military assault weapons ought to be more concerning that it is — especially in a France where over 30% of the country is in support of a neo-Nazi-adjacent political party.
These new Acela trains were ordered many years ago. They just happened to come into place for use this year.
My first visit to Union Station was when I started to take the train between DC and NYC as a kid, but that wasn’t as common for me as when I would later choose Union Station to see movies for the benefit of audience participation. In the decades since, I’ve attended a series of events at the station including a few weddings. Was the station really that bad in August 2024 or June 2025 compared to during the Reagan-Bush years on comparable days of the year? Not entirely.
Nothing like a Trump regime-declared “emergency” which has the DEA loitering inside and around the Ritz-Carlton Georgetown on a busy weekend for multimillionaires & some billionaires to drop off their precious not-so-little ones at nearby colleges/universities.