Liam Blank

Major transportation plans often arrive with a finished story. The project is necessary. The alternatives have been tested. The costs are justified. The agency has no better choice.

I work on what sits behind that story.

I help civic organizations, legal teams, funders, and reporters test the operating case, recover the paper trail, and identify the institutional incentives behind major infrastructure decisions. I focus on rail systems, public authorities, capital programs, public-records law, governance reform, and the documents that show how decisions were made.

The Penn Station Investigation Recent Work

On deadline? Press inquiries Discuss an engagement

Featured Investigation

Penn Station

Penn Station is the proof point. The railroads said the region needed to demolish Block 780 because there was no practical alternative.

Through the City Club of New York, I have worked to test that claim. The work combines public-records practice, federal engagement, media work, and review of the assumptions behind the agencies' case.

The railroads faked the math. Their October 2024 feasibility study said simulations showed the wide-platform concept failed. But when my organization filed a Freedom of Information Act request, Amtrak admitted "no simulations or modeling data" exist.

From Fix Penn Station and Build Sunnyside, New York Daily News, March 20, 2026

Selected Work

Evidence in Practice

Three examples from the broader archive. The full project list lives on My Work.

Penn Station Investigation

2025–Present

A record-based challenge to the stated case for Penn Station expansion, combining public-records appeals, operating-plan review, media work, and federal engagement. The work has focused on what the agencies said they tested, what records exist, and how the public case was built.

Daily News op-ed, March 20, 2026 / FOIA document portal

BQE Removal Strategy and Visualization

2026

Produced concept renderings, reviewed financial models, and supported Off-Ramp NYC's case for removing the BQE rather than rebuilding it. The work turned a highway-replacement debate into a visible public choice about transit, housing, freight, and open space.

View the BQE case study

Regional Rail for Metro New York

2022

Primary author of From Here to There: Regional Rail for Metro New York. The report advanced the Tri-State Solution for through-running operations at Penn Station and a more connected regional rail network.

Read the report page / PDF

View More Work

Background

Professional History

Twelve years working on rail systems and the institutions that run them, across four organizations.

2023 — Present

Chair, Transportation & Infrastructure Committee

The City Club of New York Directing committee research, federal policy engagement, public-records practice, and external communications on Penn Station and regional rail.

2022 — 2023

Associate Director

Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA Led strategic planning, legislative tracking, and commuter rail fare policy research during an organizational transition.

2018 — 2022

Policy & Communications Manager

Tri-State Transportation Campaign Authored the NJ Transit reform blueprint, worked on congestion pricing advocacy, and produced regional rail policy analysis.

2014 — 2018

Transportation Analyst

ReThink Studio Developed low-cost rail corridor feasibility methods for testing underused and abandoned rights-of-way across the Northeast.

Working Together

Start with a concrete question.

Whether a plan holds up. Where the institutional risk sits. What the records show. How to make a public argument from the evidence.

Most engagements run three to six months.