To help accomplish this important work, Penn Station customers will notice several changes to the existing LIRR concourse, in the area nearer to Seventh Avenue, including: six ticket windows that will close, four ticket machines that will be moved, and the removal of the alphabetical departure board above the ticketing and Customer Service offices.
While pedestrian access from the 34th Street and Seventh Avenue entrance will still be available to the concourse level, customers are reminded they can also use the West End Concourse entrance at 33rd Street and Eighth Avenue, that was built and opened in 2017, to await and access trains.
During this time, the LIRR encourages customers to purchase tickets via the eTix app, as the easiest way to buy train tickets for your trip and avoid lines. For train departure times available right on your mobile device, customers can download the MYmta or LIRR TrainTime apps, or visit MyLIRR.org for track information. LIRR station ambassadors will be available throughout the corridor to help customers navigate, if needed.
Early phases of the work will not impact the LIRR’s customer waiting room or bathrooms.
“LIRR customers not only deserve reliable train service, they deserve train stations that feel comfortable, spacious, and meet their modern needs,” LIRR President Phil Eng says. “This new entrance, coupled with the Moynihan Train Hall, will undoubtedly help transform the customer experience at Penn Station, which is long overdue. We thank our customers for their patience and adaptability as this important work gets underway.”
Since the current Penn Station’s opening, pedestrian traffic has more than tripled from 200,000 to 650,000 passengers daily, with 234,000 people using the LIRR via Penn Station every day. In addition, 115,000 people use the station each day solely to enter or leave the subway or to patronize the on-site retail.
I remember using that passageway when I lived in NYC in the early 70’s. It was a cesspit then and I can’t imagine how creepy it would be now outside of rush hours. Dirt and filth were everywhere with the entire length populated by the homeless.
The Gimbels Passageway under the S side of 33 St connected Penn Station to the Herald Square subway and PATH station at 6 Av. It is privately owned and reports variously say it closed in the 1970s or early 80s, due to security. There have been proposals by Vornado Realty Trust to reopen it as part of their on-again, off-again plan to replace the adjacent Hotel Pennsylvania with an office tower. At one time it was possible to continue north under 6 Av as far as the SE corner of 40 St and 6 Av (not 42 St as is sometimes reported), but that passage too has been sealed due to security. Even if both passages were to be reopened, continuous passage between them has been blocked by the fare control turnstiles of the reconstructed subway complex at Herald Square.
TIMOTHY —- Question – When was this passageway to PATH TRAIN closed ?????
I wish they would reopen (and clean up) the underground connection that exists between Penn Station at the PATH’s 33rd Street terminal!