NEW YORK — New plans were announced Monday for New York Penn Station, during a speech to New York Civic leaders by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat. To augment the new Moynihan Train Hall and existing Pennsylvania Station, buildings and land on the south full city block adjacent to the current facility will be acquired to create an additional new eight-track terminal annex with additional tracks, will provide room for an additional 175,000 riders a day.
This is the first expansion of Penn Station’s foundational infrastructure since the station was completed in 1910.
New York State, Amtrak, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority and others will partner with a consultant design team led by FXCollaborative to develop and carry out the plans for the Amtrak-owned station.
“This forward-thinking plan should serve as a model to the nation as we strive to build 21st century transportation and infrastructure systems,” says Anthony Coscia, Amtrak’s chairman.
Update: The Gateway tubes will be able to reach almost all of the existing Penn Station tracks. The remaining tracks on the North side of the station are used mostly by LIRR trains from the East which don’t need access to New Jersey.
If you live in New York State be prepared for the cost of everything to go up dramatically.
For example, I own a small business employing about a dozen people in the telecommunications field. In November the governor proposed new fees on telecommunications providers in the State (including telephone and Internet) that will cause business and residential bills (including Internet access) to go up by about 30%.
No wonder more people move out of New York State annually than any other state in the Country.
I agree with you 101% Philip. As much as I would like to ride on a high speed train. I think our #1 priority should be to build Gateway and repair the current tunnels.
CURTIS – You’re right .. the plan and cost estimate would be interesting. Finding the money to build the addition would also be interesting.
It will be interesting to see the expansion’s schematic and cost estimate.
It seems without corresponding East River tubes, this would necessarily be a stub facility, served by the new Gateway Tubes with no Easterly exit. The original Penn Station would still be served by the two existing North River Tubes without the flexibility of having four tracks available under the North (Hudson) River.
If so, this would be no better than the earlier proposed stub facility that was scratched by then NJ Governor Christie.
Phil Mulligan
Another Cuomo fantasy.
Instead of spending New York taxpayers money on high speed rail, this project and the rebuilding or replacement of the North and East river tunnels should be fully completed before building a high speed rail line.
In the 1960s, many major railway stations were downsized with track removal and demolition for smaller structures. How times had changed.
If Texas Central Partners had been smarter, they would extend the proposed line from Dallas to across the West Loop (I-610) in Houston, connecting with the Sunset Route (Union Pacific) near Memorial Park and Uptown where the terminal may be shared with Amtrak. The pathetic shanty left by Southern Pacific would finally be replaced as a station in America’s fourth largest city.
When the Gov explains how a mile of the Second Avenue subway took 60 years and more money than God could count, when he explains who’s going to pay for the North River Tunnels, when he explains who’s going to pay for last week’s proposal for HSR in the Empire Corridor, and moving down the line to nearby states the Portal Bridge and the Baltimore Tunnels, when he explains all that, then we can look into an expanded Penn Station.
It’s probably a great idea to expand Penn Station but there’s lots of ‘splaining to do before we get to it.
I don’t mean to be totally cynical about my least favorite city – they have done some good things, the Amtrak extension into Penn Station via the abandoned west side railroad, the Air Train to JFK, the overdue rebuilding of LGA, the JFK/ Howard Beach bus transfer station on the IND subway…. it just seems small compared to the overall needs. If my grandson goes to Harlem sixty years from now will the Second Avenue Subway have reached 125th Street by then? I surely hope so but I wouldn’t bet on it.
I read somewhere some years ago that when Penn Station was originally built rights were reserved for eventually expanding the platform areas to the south. I wonder if Cuomo is aware of this.
Mr. Selden – How could you say such a thing? Last week it was a new “high speed rail study.” The proposed Hudson River tunnels and rebuild of the existing ones aren’t funded. I’m all for an expanded Penn Station, which would need the new Hudson Tunnels to function, as well as, I would guess, additional East River Tunnels. I’m pleased to see our fearless leader championing rail improvements, but, other than feel-good press, maybe he knows something we don’t know about Bloomberg’s chances.
This is just a wild guess, but I’ll bet he wants somebody other than New York taxpayers to pay for it.