End of the Line for Penn Station? A Trump Official Calls for a New Name.

The Trump administration is no longer dodging the question of whether it wants to rename Pennsylvania Station in New York City.

In a letter to the leaders of three Senate committees on Wednesday, the transportation secretary, Sean P. Duffy, listed renaming Penn Station as an administration priority. President Trump had said that people suggested to him that the station be renamed for him, but Mr. Duffy had been coy when asked if the administration planned to do so.

His letter did not say what the station’s new name would be.

The Department of Transportation took control last year of a project to renovate the station, which is the busiest transportation hub in the United States. In May, Amtrak chose a group of companies known as Penn Transformation Partners to serve as the master developer for the project, with an estimated cost of $7 billion to $8 billion.

Mr. Duffy’s letter urged Congress to authorize an additional grant of $1 billion for the design and renovation of the station. He also called for an increase in railroad funding and asked lawmakers to pass legislation that would allow Amtrak to collect payments from the developers of properties surrounding its stations, rather than having them pay property taxes to local or state governments.

Illustrations of the plans for overhauling the station did not indicate that it would be renamed. The plans call for a grand new entrance on Eighth Avenue that would allow light to stream into a redesigned main concourse and include a large engraving on an interior wall with Mr. Trump’s name on it.

Andy Byford, the Amtrak executive managing the project, had said that he was unconcerned about whether the station was renamed. Mr. Byford had also said that the redevelopment of the station would begin before the end of next year.

The original Penn Station in Manhattan was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad and opened in 1910 before being torn down in the early 1960s to make room for Madison Square Garden. The existing Penn Station, which sits beneath the Garden, is owned by Amtrak, though the biggest users of its tracks are two commuter services, the Long Island Rail Road and NJ Transit.

“After months of hiding from the public, Sean Duffy has confirmed that the Trump administration is waging a hostile takeover of Penn Station, including delivering Trump his dream of renaming Penn Station after himself,” Representative Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat from Manhattan, said in a social media posting. “I strongly oppose this ridiculous proposal and am once again demanding answers on the funding.”

The Transportation Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the renaming proposal.

Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic minority leader from New York, implied that the administration planned to rename the station for Mr. Trump.

“Penn Station needs to be rebuilt for the millions of commuters who use it, not rebranded to satisfy Trump’s bottomless ego,” Mr. Schumer said. “Secretary Duffy should stop scheming to flatter the president and start delivering the safe, modern station New Yorkers deserve.”

Mr. Duffy also urged the senators to “prioritize motor vehicle travel over bicycle lanes.” In his letter, he asked them to restrict funding for bicycle lanes and “other bicycle infrastructure that reduce travel throughput for motor vehicles and support removal of existing bike lanes that contribute to congestion.”