Transportation Dept. to run Union Station, aims to improve commercial prospects, clear out homeless

The Trump administration said Wednesday it plans to take managerial control of Union Station to unlock the historic building’s commercial potential and address its vagrancy problem.

The Transportation Department said reinvestment and better security will “dramatically improve the income from the station,” and will also open the door for more private investment.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the move was to counteract prolonged neglect at the District’s train hub, which serves Amtrak, Maryland and Virginia’s commuter rails, and the area’s Metro system.

“We are going to make the investment to make sure that this station isn’t dirty, that we don’t have homelessness in the Union Station,” Mr. Duffy said at a press conference announcing a new line of high-speed Acela trains.

“We want a place where businesses want to obtain leases and set up shop and serve the community of D.C., but also for people that travel again to D.C. via train,” he said.

Union Station has been federally owned since the 1980s, but piecemeal agreements over the years have given the nonprofit Union Station Redevelopment Corp. greater control of the landmark’s upkeep and management.

The Transportation Department criticized the nonprofit corporation for collecting insufficient revenue and letting the station fall into disrepair.

The Cabinet agency said boosting the station’s economic outlook will let it fund facility upgrades and other improvements.

Union Station has become a focal point of President Trump’s declared crime emergency in the District, with some of the roughly 2,000 National Guard troops deployed to the District being posted at the building just a stone’s throw from the U.S. Capitol.

Last week, Vice President J.D. Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited the station to treat soldiers to lunch.

When a reporter asked Mr. Vance why National Guard troops were posted up at the building that sees relatively little crime, the vice president rejected the question’s framing and said aggressive vagrants are a frequent problem.

On Wednesday, camouflage-clad guardsmen with pistols holstered were seen milling about the main hall, shops and Columbus Circle park outside the front entrance.

One guardsman told The Washington Times that they only started carrying their sidearms in the past few days.

He said their orders are to remain in the District until the city is “safe and beautiful.”

News of the Trump administration reclaiming control of Union Station was largely a non-factor for the commuters coming and going.

Leigh Anne, a social worker from St. Louis who was visiting the District for a work conference, said she hadn’t even heard about the change in management until The Times approached her.

She added that she didn’t notice any disrepair or vagrancy at the station, which she thought was gorgeous, during her first visit there.

Leigh Anne, who did not want to share her last name, said she was more struck by seeing armed National Guard troops in such tourist-heavy parts of town. She said she went sightseeing with her father, Frank, before the pair was to catch a train to New York.

“Everything’s beautiful here and really nice, except it’s really jarring to see these guys in fatigues with guns,” Frank said, who also did not want to share his last name. “There were like four or five of them in front of the Holocaust Museum.”

Protesters outside Union Station also had no strong opinions on the Trump administration retaking control of the train hub.

Dona Dickinson, an activist with Defend Democracy, said she was “agnostic” about the Transportation Department planning to manage the landmark because “I don’t know what the implications of that are.”

She said her attention is largely dedicated to opposing the troop deployment in the nation’s capital. Ms. Dickinson said she had protested at Union Station and twice outside the White House.

Mr. Trump’s federal surge in the District has achieved close to 1,200 arrests as the 30-day emergency period hits the midway point, according to White House officials.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who has disputed Mr. Trump’s justification for federalizing the Metropolitan Police Department, initiating federal law enforcement patrols and sending National Guard troops into the city, heaped praise on the effort Wednesday during a media event.

“We greatly appreciate the surge of officers that enhance what MPD has been able to do in this city,” said Ms. Bowser, a Democrat.

From Aug. 7 through Aug. 24, she said carjackings fell 87% when compared to the same date range last year. Carjackings, as the mayor pointed out, were one of the most rampant offenses during the city’s generational crime wave in 2023.

“We know that when carjackings go down, when use of guns goes down, when homicides or robberies go down, neighborhoods feel safer and are safe,” Ms. Bowser said. “So this surge has been important to us for that reason.”