Amtrak/LIRR Moynihan Train Hall

Fantastic to see the crystal ceiling, inspired by the original Penn Station, returning. What a fantastic architectural choice.

With the planned opening in 2020, we can see how the Acela replacement in 2021 fits in to this plan. It makes a lot of sense. A new era of high speed trains with a new gateway in NYC that has long been a sore spot. It goes to show you the behind the scenes politicking that was transpiring to bring this all to fruition.

Hopefully the trifecta occurs, and Gateway is formally funded.

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No mention of improvements to the NJT waiting areas? Will NJT expand into what will be the former Amtrak waiting area?

Another project that will be over budget, behind schedule and may never be completed

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... on-project" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If and when this is completed how far do the passengers have to walk to the platforms? I read one article that said they will renovate the platforms under the P.O. but how many platforms are there to renovate?
I don't think all of the platforms extend under 8th Ave. to the P.O. building.

NJT improvements would take the cooperation of (and funding from) New Jersey--something Cuomo has no control over and he's obviously moving ahead with just NY state entities (NYC, MTA, etc) and Amtrak as partners.

Perhaps Cuomo roped LIRR into this because he controls it via the NY MTA. Maybe he needed the LIRR's daily foot traffic to fund more retail to fund a larger station, maybe he needed the MTA's bonding/funding, or maybe he's doing it to win votes on Long Island.

But Cuomo is not in a position to promise anything to NJT users, or extract anything from NJ funding, so he's working with what he's got, through entities he can steer, to deliver results to constituencies he's responsible to.

Shhh don't tell the public that this $1.6 billion dollar station can't even reach 3-4 platforms!!

It hilarious how foolish this project is. All it is doing with the current layout is changing passenger flow and creating more space for the homeless to sprawl out.

Meanwhile there are 6 tunnels dating back to 1910, feeding into a basically permanent layout, with the same problems as it does now.

I think that's very smart politics. Work with the low-hanging fruit and get what you need from the others later when the opportunity presents itself.

Well, he's certainly a smart politician... he just tends to use those smarts for his own gains instead of the good of the public he represents, in more cases than not. Good to see this is at least promising.

He's making a lot of grand promises to improve a lot of transit around the city...I'm still skeptical it will all happen, especially on the timeline he promises.

No politician can guarantee any construction timeline for any project. Golly, that's in the job scope for the general contractor actually building it. Too many things can get in the way meeting a schedule; weather, labor actions, subcontractor performance, permitting authorities, lawsuits of all kinds, and political opposition.

At least there is little if any political opposition in New York.

naugatroll wrote:He's making a lot of grand promises to improve a lot of transit around the city...I'm still skeptical it will all happen, especially on the timeline he promises.

If he gets booted next cycle, his replacement will have to be the one to break it to downstate that the state just can't afford most of this. Without the NYC, Westchester, and Nassau vote, he'd be gone as it is. He's not popular in most of the state at all.

I'm with swingman. Cuomo seems to be focused on the glitz and not on the operation of his projects. Penn South or gateway or some track reconfig would be much more useful than this.

Nasadowsk wrote:Without the NYC, Westchester, and Nassau vote, he'd be gone as it is. He's not popular in most of the state at all.

He doesn't need to be. That's 61% of the total state population. Empty landmass elsewhere is less important.