By: Rusty Brooks

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Sunday that the much anticipated Moynihan Train Hall project at New York City’s Pennsylvania Station will finally be completed by Friday, December 31st.

The new train hall is in the 108-year-old James A. Farley Post Office Building and honors the design of the original Penn Station. As was reported by Bloomberg News, the iconic post office, directly across from Penn station, has designated as a landmark. It was designed by McKim, Mead & White. Bloomberg reported that passengers will enter a large central atrium measuring 255,000 square feet and it is topped by a 92-foot-high skylight. There’s a dedicated lounge for nursing mothers, and free public high-speed Wi-Fi throughout. Penn Station’s concourse space has also been expanded by 50%.

“New Yorkers have known for decades that Penn Station needed to be reimagined — and after years of work, the Moynihan Train Hall will open on time and on budget at the end of 2020,” Governor Cuomo said. “This monumental accomplishment is a shot of hope as we come out of one of darkest periods in our history and sends a clear message to the world that while we suffered greatly as a result of this once-in-a-century health crisis, the pandemic did not stop us from dreaming big and building for the future. The new Moynihan Train Hall is the embodiment of New York Tough.”

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill has been the architect of this project since 1998 and oversaw the entire project.

“This is an incredibly important moment in the history of New York City,” said SOM Partner Colin Koop. “We’ve designed a place that evokes the majesty of the original Penn Station, all while serving as a practical solution to the issues that commuters in, to and from New York have endured for too long. By connecting to our architectural past through the adaptive reuse of the Farley Post office building, we are breathing new life into New York, and recreating an experience no one has had here in decades.”

Laura Ettelman, SOM Managing Partner, continues, “SOM has been working on this project since 1998 – for more than two decades. Our deep commitment to this project has been fueled by the profound belief that New York City is better because of projects like this.”

According to a Bloomberg News report, the hall is named after the late New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who decried the 1964 razing of the above-ground portion of the historic Penn Station, which made room for Madison Square Garden. After the Beaux-Arts original was destroyed, architectural historian Vincent Scully lamented, “One entered the city like a god. One scuttles in now like a rat.”

The project is funded with $550 million from New York state; $420 million from Amtrak, the Metropolitan Transit Authority, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and a federal grant; and $630 million from the developers, Related Cos. and Vornado Realty Trust, Bloomberg reported.

Bloomberg reported that starting on January 1st, all Long Island Rail Road and Amtrak trains will be served by the 17 tracks accessible from the train hall. Eventually, the facility will also serve Metro-North commuters. Each operator will offer customer service and waiting areas.

Amtrak’s opening may coincide later this year with the arrival of new Acela high-speed trains that will serve the Boston-Washington corridor at speeds as high as 165 mph, according to the Bloomberg report. Its amenities will include a staffed lounge available to all Acela first class or sleeping-car passengers, plus members of Amtrak’s rewards plans.
The facility will be closed overnight from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. and will offer full Amtrak services from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. Penn Station will remain open 24 hours a day. Tracks 1-4 will be accessible only from Penn Station, while tracks 5-16 will be accessible from the Moynihan Hall.

This has been an event in the making for NYC and has been talked about for decades. At one time Penn Station was a beautiful structure and was named after its original owner, The Pennsylvania Railroad, as was reported by the New York Times in 2010.

Plans for the new Penn Plaza and Madison Square Garden were announced in 1962. In exchange for the air rights to Penn Station, the PRR would receive a smaller underground station at no cost and a 25 percent stake in the new Madison Square Garden Complex. Modern architects rushed to save the ornate building, but to no avail. Demolition of the above-ground head house began in October 1963.