The Trump administration appears to have concerns about safety and cleanliness at South Station in Boston.
As Amtrak unveiled the new high-speed Acela train there Wednesday night, Deputy Secretary of Transportation Steven Bradbury suggested that South Station could face a federal takeover, similar to what is happening at Union Station in Washington, D.C.
“We need to address the stations along the Northeast Corridor,” Bradbury said. “Similarly, here in South Boston we need to address the cleanliness, the crime, the safety and security of the station for the rail workers, for the passengers, because the people of Boston deserve that,” Bradbury said.
He did not take any questions or elaborate on how the Transportation Department would address the issues. The department owns Union Station in Washington, but it has no control over South Station. The MBTA oversees the day-to-day operations there. WBZ-TV has reached out to the T for comment but has not heard back yet.
“South Station is not the property of the federal government and there’s no legal way for anything like that to happen,” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu told reporters Thursday. “This is not a game of authoritarian monopoly. This is a government with laws and a constitution that clearly shows who is in control of what.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced Wednesday that his department was “reclaiming” management of Union Station in Washington because it “has fallen into disrepair.” The department has owned the D.C. station for more than 40 years, but said control has been reduced through various leases and agreements.
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