Transit agency sues Trump over frozen funds for New York subway project

By David Shepardson

March 17 (Reuters) – The Metropolitan Transportation Authority sued the Trump administration on Tuesday for withholding nearly $60 million from a major New York City subway project.

The breach of contract lawsuit – filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims – over funding for the $7.7 billion Second Avenue Subway project is the latest in a series of legal challenges to the U.S. Transportation Department’s decision to suspend funding for some projects at the start of a government shutdown last fall.

The White House declined to comment. USDOT said it “committed to ensuring hardworking taxpayer dollars are being spent responsibly. We are considering all legal avenues.”

The Biden administration awarded the project $3.4 billion.

The Manhattan subway project is designed to shorten commutes for more than 100,000 daily riders, and the current portion will extend the Q subway line 1.76 miles into East Harlem and Harlem and add three new subway stations. The Second Avenue line has been under consideration since the 1920s.

“Once again, New York has been forced to sue the Trump Administration to stop them from erratically shutting off billions of dollars in previously committed infrastructure funding,” said New York Governor Kathy Hochul. “Donald Trump’s unlawful funding pause has put this entire project at risk.”

The lawsuit said “President Trump made clear that the payments had been suspended in order to put political pressure on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer,” who represents New York.

The lawsuit also noted that during last fall’s shutdown, USDOT also suspended $1.2 billion in funding earmarked for the Chicago Transit Authority subway extension.

Last week, a federal appeals court ruled the Trump administration must keep making payments ​on the $16 billion New York Hudson Tunnel after USDOT also suspended payments to that project, following a suit from New York and New Jersey.

The Hudson Tunnel Project aims to build a new commuter rail tunnel connecting Manhattan and New Jersey and repair a century-old tunnel used by more than 200,000 travelers and 425 trains daily. The existing tunnel, heavily damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, ​needs frequent emergency repairs that disrupt travel on the nation’s most heavily used passenger rail line.

(Reporting by David Shepardson, Editing by Franklin Paul, Hugh Lawson and Nick Zieminski)