In 1918, A.H. Smith, the Eastern Director of the United States Railroad Administration and the president of the New York Central Railroad, asked whether or not the proposed facility could be sufficiently enlarged to include the railroads using the lakefront station. Thus, it was Smith who initiated the idea for a "Union Station" on Public Square. In 1919, the Pennsylvania Railroad withdrew from the project. Smith, in his capacity as the president of the NYCRR, allied with the Van Sweringens, and fiercely opposed Pennsylvania Railroad.