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WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration is taking management of Union Station away from Amtrak in the latest example of the federal government exerting its power over the nation’s capital.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the takeover Wednesday alongside Amtrak President Roger Harris at Washington’s main transportation hub during the launch of an updated version of the rail service’s Acela train. The federal government owns Union Station, which is near the Capitol.
Duffy said the station has “fallen into disrepair” when it should be a “point of pride” for the District of Columbia. He said the Republican administration’s move would help beautify the landmark in an economical way and was in line with Trump’s vision.
“He wants Union Station to be beautiful again. He wants transit to be safe again. And he wants our nation’s capital to be great again. And today is part of that,” Duffy said.
It’s Trump’s latest attempt to put the city under his control. In recent weeks, Trump has increased the number of federal law enforcement and immigration agents on city streets while also taking over the Metropolitan Police Department and activating thousands of National Guard members. Last week, Trump said he wants $2 billion from Congress to beautify Washington.
Duffy said the federal government can do a better job managing the train station and attract more shops and restaurants and generate more revenue that will be used to pay for upgrades to the station, which opened in 1907. Since then, the cavernous Roman-columned building has been through multiple management changes and numerous ups and downs regarding its cleanliness, safety and state of repair.
Mayor Muriel Bowser said upgrading the transit hub that serves various rail lines and buses would be an “amazing initiative” for the federal government to take on because the city cannot afford the cost.
“It has suffered from not being able to get the money that it needs for the renovation,” the Democrat said at a separate news conference.
National Guard troops have patrolled in and around Union Station ever since Trump announced the anti-crime effort this month. Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were shouted down by opponents of the federal intervention when they visited with troops there last week.
Duffy had pressed Amtrak about crime at the station in a March letter to its chief operating officer and requested an updated plan on how it intended to improve public safety there.
The deputy transportation secretary, Steve Bradbury, cited a new roof and new public restrooms among $170 million in upgrades that he said are needed at the station.
Amtrak’s new high-speed train, the NextGen Acela, will start serving the Northeast Corridor on Thursday, said Harris, Amtrak’s president. The trains can travel at speeds of up to 160 mph, about 10 mph faster than the Acela train it is replacing. Duffy and the officials from the Union Station event boarded one of the new trains afterward for an inaugural ride to New York’s Penn Station.
Union Station has had a history of ups and downs during its nearly 120-year history.
In 1981, after rain started pouring through the ceiling, the National Park Service, which has jurisdiction over some of the area surrounding the station, declared the building unsafe. The station was closed for five years for renovation and President Ronald Reagan signed the Union Station Redevelopment Act to help fund and organize its comeback.
More recently, the building fell on relatively hard times during the COVID pandemic. Foot traffic plummeted after passengers shunned mass transit while multiple shops closed at the station. But the past three years have witnessed a bit of a comeback.
The station has occasionally been a magnet for homeless individuals seeking shelter inside or camping in tents on Columbus Circle in front of the building. The proliferation of tents prompted the Park Service to clear the encampment in front of the station in June 2022.
Control and management of the physical building also have shifted over the years.

COPENHAGEN: Denmark summoned the US charge d’affaires on Wednesday after reports of attempted interference in Greenland, a Danish autonomous territory that US President Donald Trump wants to take over.
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has repeatedly said the United States needs the strategically located, resource-rich island for security reasons, and has refused to rule out the use of force to secure it.
At least three US officials close to Trump have been noticed in Greenland’s capital Nuuk trying to identify people they could use in anti-Denmark influence campaigns, according to Danish public television network DR.
Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said in a statement to AFP he was aware of “foreign actors” showing an interest in Greenland’s posoition within Denmark.
“Any attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of the Kingdom will of course be unacceptable,” he said, adding that he had “asked the ministry of foreign affairs to summon the US charge d’affaires for a meeting at the ministry.”
Most of Greenland’s 57,000 people want to become independent from Denmark, according to a January poll, but do not wish to become part of the US.
Both Denmark and Greenland have repeatedly insisted the Arctic island is not for sale and that it will decide its future itself.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she was taking the matter seriously.
“I note that the Americans have not clearly rejected the DR report today, and that is of course serious,” she told Danish television.
The Wall Street Journal reported in May that US intelligence agencies had been ordered to find out more about Greenland’s independence movement and opinions on American exploitation of resources.
According to the newspaper, intelligence agencies had been asked to identify people in Greenland and Denmark who supported US objectives.
Frederiksen reacted angrily to that report at the time, saying: “You cannot spy against an ally.”
Like the United States, Denmark is a founding member of NATO and has recently fought alongside America in its wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
According to the DR report on Wednesday, the US officials were trying to gather information on issues that have created tension between Greenland and Denmark — which could be used to present Denmark in a bad light.
These include Denmark’s forced removal of Greenlandic Inuit children from their families, as well as its forced contraception of at least half of all fertile Inuit women from the 1960s until 1992.
Frederiksen on Wednesday presented a long-awaited apology to the 4,500 Inuit women who had to wear a contraceptive coil — or intrauterine device (IUD) — without their or their family’s consent.
“We cannot change what has happened. But we can take responsibility. Therefore, on behalf of Denmark, I would like to say: I am sorry,” she said in a statement.
In March, US Vice President JD Vance made an uninvited visit to Greenland that was widely seen as a provocation both on the island and in Copenhagen.
He was initially due to tour several towns but following angry reactions across Europe, he shortened his itinerary to a one-day visit of the US Pituffik military base.
During a speech there, Vance castigated Denmark for not having “done a good job by the people of Greenland,” alleging it had neglected security.
The Pituffik base is an essential part of Washington’s missile-defense infrastructure, its location putting it on the shortest route for missiles fired from Russia at the United States.
The Arctic has gained geostrategic importance as the race for rare earths heats up and as melting ice caused by global warming opens up new shipping routes.
Copenhagen in January announced a $2-billion plan to boost its military presence in the Arctic region.
Ahead of Greenland’s March 11 general election, Denmark’s intelligence service said it was concerned about possible foreign interference, particularly from Russia, but said no attempts were ever detected.