U.S. Senator and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer is jumping into the latest campaign to press Amtrak into speeding up its negotiations over an expansion plan that would see four Metro-North stations in the Bronx. Schumer is among the growing number of elected officials pushing Amtrak to clear Metro-North to start the long-awaited project dubbed Penn Station Access.

“I get a lot of money for Amtrak I am maybe its leading defender in the congress and I am asking Amtrak to step up to the plate,” said Schumer, standing outside Co-Op City’s Section 5, which overlooks Pelham Bay Bridge. “The best way to convince Amtrak is to tell them that we in the New York Congressional Delegation, and I in particular, really defend them through thick and thin. When anyone’s trying to hurt them, cut them, etcetera, and that is our responsibility. Their responsibility is to do what’s right for the New York metropolitan area.”

Co-Op City is one of the neighborhoods expected see a Metro-North station built. Schumer urged the federally-funded rail line to wrap up its negotiations with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to move the project along. The plan would see Metro-North stations travel on existing rail lines that belong to Amtrak, making the estimated billion-dollar project into a convoluted mess.

Morris Park, Parkchester, and Hunts Point, neighborhoods considered transit deserts, are all expected to receive a station as part of the plan. Under the plan, Metro-North trains running on that line will begin and stop at Penn Station, rerouted from Grand Central Terminal, where most Metro-North trains depart or terminate.

At issue is financial obligations each side must meet to move the project forward. Schumer said Amtrak has been asking Metro-North for “access fees”—payments in exchange for using the lines—which elected officials have said run in the millions of dollars, a price tag Schumer said is “too much.”

“The reality is what’s the price of not having adequate access for our constituents? It’s a much larger price,” said State Sen. Jamaal Bailey, who represents Co-Op City, said. “We already struggle with bus service here.”

He also added that Amtrak is also quibbling over whether Metro-North should pay for the cost of replacing the Pelham Bay Bridge, which would run the Metro-North trains through it.

But Penn Station Access can’t happen without the completion of the enormously expensive East Side Access plan, another Amtrak involved plan that will see Long Island Rail Road trains depart or end at a terminal currently being built below Grand Central Terminal. Completing East Side Access, where much of the work is happening at the Amtrak-owned Sunnyside Rail Yards, would free up terminals at Penn Station needed for Metro-North trains. The project is expected to be completed by 2022.

Beyond wrangling and news conferences, Schumer and other elected officials are largely hamstrung by Amtrak, which ultimately has the final say over whether to speed up or keep the project at its current pace.

“If you want this to actually happen then you will come with a reasonable ask, but you’re asking something that’s really just saying you’re killing the deal,” said Councilman Andy King.

In a statement, a spokesman for Amtrak said the agency and MTA are “making progress working together to advance the Penn Station Access project in a way that works for both parties.

We appreciate Senator Schumer’s leadership on this issue and appreciate the importance of providing new transportation options to these location communities.”

Schumer told reporters he won’t consider pulling funding from Amtrak.

“I’m not going to cut New Yorkers’ nose to spite their face. I’m not going to say, ‘Oh Amtrak, I’m going to cut your funding unless you do this.’ But a carrot’s better than the stick,” said Schumer.