(AFP) – The Trump administration said Wednesday it will exert more control over Washington by taking over management of Union Station, the US capital’s rail hub. The announcement by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy — he said the station had become “dilapidated” — came as the administration has already deployed thousands of federal agents and National Guard troops to the streets of Washington to battle what it calls a surge in violent crime.
President Donald Trump “wants Union Station to be beautiful again. He wants transit to be safe again. He wants our nation’s capital to be great again,” Duffy told a press conference at the stately building a stone’s throw from the US Capitol. Union Station, which opened in 1907, has been owned by the government since the 1980s but its operational control is held by the national railroad company Amtrak. Now the Trump administration is taking over.
Since the 1980s, “Washington Union Station has become dilapidated. It is known more as a center for vagrancy than a hub for commerce and travel,” Duffy said in a statement. “We are going to make the investments to make sure that this station isn’t dirty; we don’t have homelessness in the Union Station,” Duffy said at the press conference, which was called to unveil a new generation of Amtrak high-speed trains.
The administration plans improvements including to elevators, lighting, and security, and will put on a new roof, Duffy said. As he seeks to exert control on a broad range of American institutions, Trump has cracked down on the overwhelmingly Democratic city where he lives, depicting it as overrun by street shootings and other crime.
The show of force has been widely criticized as the latest power grab Trump has made or attempted since returning to the White House in January. The US capital has a unique legal status as it is not a state or part of one, and operates under a relationship with the federal government that limits its autonomy and grants Congress extraordinary control over local matters. Trump used this loophole to send the National Guard into Washington this month.
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