NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, in partnership with NJ Transit and Amtrak, has approved a contract for the redesign of New York’s Penn Station.
A joint venture of FXCollaborative Architects LLOP and WSP USA Inc, with British architect John McAslan + Partners as collaborating architect, will advance a plan for a single-level facility centered around a grand hall with a 450-foot-long skylit atrium between Madison Square Garden and 2 Penn Plaza, according to a press release from the office of New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.
The contract calls for a design that will relieve overcrowding and improve passenger flow, improve platform and station egress and accessibility, alleviate the current cramped conditions with widened concourses and high ceilings, optimize retail and other revenue generation, and integrate the station with the adjacent Moynihan Train Hall and the planned Penn Station expansion.
The base contract of up to $57.9 million will last for one year and will develop the preliminary station design, with options covering preliminary design for improvements to nearby subway stations, as well as design and engineering support as the station project advances. The news site amNY.com reports those options add costs ranging from $3.7 million to $152.7 million and could extend its duration to more than eight years.
“The transformation of Penn cannot come soon enough,” Hochul said in announcing the contract, “and we look forward to building a world-class station that puts New Yorkers first, delivers a rider-focused transit experience, and a great neighborhood they deserve.”
MTA CEO Janno Lieber said the work will take place on “an aggressive timetable,” with a goal of getting the most disruptive work at the station complete “before a new influx of customers arrives on Metro-North Railroad by 2027” as part of the Penn Station Access project [see “MTA awards contract for Penn Station Access,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 16, 2021].
The city and state agreed how to fund the station project earlier this year, although critics questioned the lack of detail in their agreement [see “New York City, state agree on funding plan …,” News Wire, July 19, 2022].
The ultimate initial solution is to get rid of the vulgar vertical black box and disc above Penn Station. Madison Square Garden has no business being moved with displacement of a busy surface railway terminal building.
Gov. Hochul just has to have her Moynihan Train Hall East. And at completion think of the glorious, high-profile ribbon-cutting ceremony she will preside over. And then campaign contributions will role in and election to another term will follow. Meanwhile, Gateway languishes. Ah, but upon completion of that there will be no ribbon-cutting. No one will be able to see those tunnels. So kick that can down the road some more. In any event, the trains to/from that direction aren’t her constituents. So why prioritize that? Once again when it comes to passenger rail projects a politician decides to build a house and ignore the unsexy hidden foundation.
Your post is so true Mark. And it isn’t just New York state that this applies to. It is the reason that the long-distance trains get nothing in the way of Congressional support. Even before the pandemic the LD trains carried only some 4.5 million passengers not people. When you consider that each leg of a journey counts as one passenger the actual number of people is much lower. For instance, if you take a round trip from Cleveland to Albuquerque you have four trip segments. Each segment counts as one passenger, so you have four passengers but only one person. So, the politicians aren’t much interested beyond flapping their pie holes for the few people riding Amtrak LD trains when there are millions flying and even ,more driving. Money talks when it comes to politics and the political contributions are much greater from the flying and driving public than the piddling few who choose to ride Amtrak outside the corridors.
Good grief. What does MTA envision? A preliminary design contract of $57.9 million (before options) equates to construction costs of over $1.9 billion.