Amtrak’s Funding to Regional Plan Association Surpasses $2.3 Million Since 2017

Tax records reviewed by AN show the Regional Plan Association has received $2.3 million from Amtrak since 2017, contradicting earlier narratives about the organization’s independence. The report highlights the conflict of interest inherent in the RPA championing Amtrak-led projects, including the Gateway Program, while on the agency’s payroll.

The 1963 Plan That Could Have Saved Penn Station

Buried on page 16C of the New York Sunday News from May 19, 1963—just months before Pennsylvania Station met its demise—sits an article with the headline: “Tunnel Under Park Ave. Urged to Link All Rail Lines.” The paper is yellowed now, the kind of artifact you’d find in a library’s microfilm collection if you knew […]

The Failure of Metropolitan Coordination in the New York Tri-State Area

Henry Fagin, an official at the Regional Plan Association, once summed up the New York region’s planning apparatus as a centipede with a first-rate brain in each foot and a hole where the head should be (Oriol). He said it in the 1960s, and it still describes the region’s basic problem: broad agreement, among planners […]

The Center City Commuter Connection

Key Insights • The Infrastructure: A 1.7-mile, $330 million tunnel united the Pennsylvania and Reading railroad networks in 1984. • The Impact: Eliminated downtown transfers, saving 2,500 daily person-hours and enabling direct suburb-to-suburb travel. • The Unmet Potential: Despite physical capacity rivaling Munich’s S-Bahn, funding crises and operational choices have prevented true high-frequency metro service. […]