Washington, D.C.’s Union Station is supposed to be the “gateway to the nation’s capital.” But after eight years and millions of dollars, it has become one of the nation’s greatest symbols of bureaucratic and regulatory dysfunction. 

Nine years ago, the Federal Railroad Administration began jumping through all the legal hoops necessary to redevelop the capital’s largest train station and surrounding land. In addition to the historic main terminal that would be preserved, the new plan widens platforms and adds a new modernized train hall and an underground parking lot.