The MTA has declined Amtrak’s invitation to be a “full partner” in planning the rebuilding of Penn Station, an illustration of the strained relation between the federal and state transport agencies.

The decision was disclosed by Andy Byford, the Amtrak executive who was put in charge of rebuilding Penn station last year after federal officials in the Trump Administration shoved the MTA out of the job.

Amtrak owns the station, but its two largest users are commuter lines, The MTA’s Long Island Railroad and New Jersey Transit. In addition, The MTA’s MetroNorth service is creatingnew access to Penn Station, a project that the MTA complains is running behind schedulebecause of problems working with Amtrak on use of its tracks and signals.

Byford said he had invited both the MTA and NJ Transit to sign agreements giving them “full voting rights” in the competition Amtrak is currently conducting to select a master developer to partner in the reconstruction of the station.

NJTransit said yes, MTA said no, Byford reported to a breakfast of the Citizen’s Budget Commission. “We invited the MTA to have a seat at that same table,” Byford explained. “We invited them to sign the same memorandum of agreement ”The MTA’s Chief of Policy and External Relations, John J. McCarthy responded in astatement: “The MTA already has an agreement with Amtrak that governs these issues.”

Chatting on stage with the Budget Commission’s President, Andrew S. Rein, Byford said the MTA “would rather rely on their lease. Both they and New Jersey Transit have a lease to operate within the station. And the MTA, for now, want to rely on the terms of their lease.”

Byford volunteered that he did not ascribe “any malignant reason” to the MTA’s decision.“They are very keen, though, to have a say in the design,” Byford said, “but they decline to be what you might call full partners in the project and have voting rights on the solution.”

He said he was on good terms with Janno Lieber, the chair and ceo of the MTA, and with Jamie Torres Springer, the head of construction. “I’m confident that over time, the MTA will want to play more of a part,” he said. “We shall see.”

Not everyone was as sanguine.“NJT is a willing partner and MTA is NOT,” said one official who is deeply involved in the process. “This is precisely part of the MTA resistance which we’ve been living through for five years. They have a ‘my way or the highway’ mentality; they do not care about the best path forward for the station.”

On several occasions Lieber has raised concerns about the potential costs of the project or even the necessity for something on the scale that Amtrak and various developers appear to be contemplating. Even in his optimistic portrayal of the situation Byford seemed to touch on the MTA’s view that perhaps less is needed.

“They have said, not unreasonably, they’re very happy– their customers are very happy–with the primary area of the station that they use, which is the 33rd Street corridor, which credit to the MTA, is very nice. It’s been beautifully renovated and modernized,” Byford said of his conversations with MTA brass.

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