Amtrak’s payments to the Regional Plan Association: the press record
Six reports from August to November 2025 on Amtrak’s funding of the Regional Plan Association’s advocacy for the Gateway and Penn Station projects, each in the publication’s own words.
On August 24, 2025, the New York Daily News editorial board wrote that the Regional Plan Association (RPA) had taken money from Amtrak, the lead agency on the Penn Station project, to promote the Gateway project. The editorial said it was reporting the funding publicly for the first time. The Architect’s Newspaper and Crain’s New York Business followed within three days.
This page lists that coverage and three later reports in date order. Each entry gives the publication’s own headline and a short excerpt. The excerpts are quotations, and the characterizations in them belong to the publications. Ellipses mark words left out.
Long-trusted nonprofit sells its independence to Amtrak, casting doubt on Penn Station views
New York Daily News, editorial by the Editorial Board,
The nonprofit Regional Plan Association... has taken upwards of a million dollars in federal tax money from Amtrak to promote the railway’s Gateway project... casting anything the group has to say about the future of Penn Station and Gateway in doubt.
RPA’s Tom Wright accused of being Amtrak “paid lobbyist”
The Architect’s Newspaper, news report by Daniel Jonas Roche,
The Regional Plan Association has accepted approximately $1 million from Amtrak for lobbying services since 2022
The finding was revealed in the RPA’s most recent IRS 990 tax filing... Civic leaders see a potential conflict of interest. City Club of New York president Layla Law-Gisiko said on social media the editorial was “scathing” and that it revealed Amtrak’s and the RPA’s “cozy” relationship.
RPA accepted at least $850K from Amtrak as part of its Hudson Tunnel advocacy
Crain’s New York Business, news report,
The contributions... may be viewed as a cloud over the impartiality of the more than 100-year-old nonprofit’s conversation-shaping advocacy around the Hudson River tunnel project... along with for a separate effort led by Amtrak to redevelop Penn Station.
Trump boasts that the $16 billion Amtrak Gateway Project is “terminated”
The Architect’s Newspaper, news report by Daniel Jonas Roche,
The Daily News editorial board accused Regional Plan Association (RPA) executive director Tom Wright... of being a “paid lobbyist” for Amtrak’s conjoined Gateway and Penn Station proposals.
Bidding Opens for Penn Station’s Long-Delayed Transformation
The New York Times, news report,
“You’re going to literally be renovating this station and... below you the trains are going to be running,” said Mr. Wright, whose group has been paid by Amtrak to support infrastructure improvements in the region. “Can you imagine?”
Regional Plan Association has received $2.3 million from Amtrak since 2017
The Architect’s Newspaper, news report by Daniel Jonas Roche,
According to tax records reviewed by AN, since 2017, the RPA has received approximately $2.3 million in contracts from Amtrak. AN emailed RPA president Tom Wright and RPA president emeritus Bob Yaro for comment. Yaro responded but chose not to share a statement. Wright did not reply.
RPA’s response
Crain’s reported RPA’s response in its August 27 article: Tom Wright, the group’s president and chief executive, said the funding from Amtrak had not influenced RPA’s support or its policy positions.
Related records
Reports, contracts, and correspondence on Penn Station and Gateway, as issued by public agencies, are in the Penn Station and Gateway document archive. RPA’s Penn Station capacity case is not settled examines the group’s published analysis.
Sources
- New York Daily News Editorial Board, “Long-trusted nonprofit sells its independence to Amtrak, casting doubt on Penn Station views,” August 24, 2025.
- Daniel Jonas Roche, “RPA’s Tom Wright accused of being Amtrak ‘paid lobbyist’,” The Architect’s Newspaper, August 25, 2025.
- “RPA accepted at least $850K from Amtrak as part of its Hudson Tunnel advocacy,” Crain’s New York Business, August 27, 2025.
- Daniel Jonas Roche, “Trump boasts that the $16 billion Amtrak Gateway Project is ‘terminated’,” The Architect’s Newspaper, October 16, 2025.
- “Bidding Opens for Penn Station’s Long-Delayed Transformation,” The New York Times, October 30, 2025.
- Daniel Jonas Roche, “Regional Plan Association has received $2.3 million from Amtrak since 2017,” The Architect’s Newspaper, November 3, 2025.