NYP Penn Station South

https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/ ... 554373001/

NJ Transit is expected to be the primary operator at the proposed Empire Station complex that would add as many as nine new tracks by expanding train operations south of the current New York Penn Station.

"NJT will likely operate the largest number of trains and would carry the largest passenger volumes on the tracks and platforms comprising the proposed expansion of Penn Station," according to a final scoping document for the project released last week by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Empire State Development Corp., the state agency leading the planning effort.

This southward expansion is one piece of Cuomo's vision to reimagine the area around Penn Station, which has been over-capacity for decades, unfriendly to commuters and pedestrians and starved of long-range improvements.
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Construction will take place in two phases, with the first estimated to finish in 2028 and the second in 2038.
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The first expansion effort came to life last month when the refurbished Farley Post Office, now Moynihan Train Hall, opened across the street from Penn on Eighth Avenue. It is now the home to Amtrak and has entrances to some tracks used by LIRR trains, freeing up some waiting space at Penn Station for NJ Transit.
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When a passenger detains on Track 5 or higher does he have a choice of elevators or stairways that lead to the old Penn Station vs the Moynihan Train Hall? Does the old station still have ticket offices for Amtrak, LIRR and NJT?

Answer may be in here: amtrak-lirr-moynihan-train-hall-t15801.html

twropr wrote: ↑Fri Feb 26, 2021 2:09 pm When a passenger detains on Track 5 or higher does he have a choice of elevators or stairways that lead to the old Penn Station vs the Moynihan Train Hall? Does the old station still have ticket offices for Amtrak, LIRR and NJT?

There is only one elevator/escalator up to Moynihan from the accessible platforms, and it's at the FAR west end of those platforms. In many cases, passengers will likely use the closest exit stair - which won't be Moynihan. There are signs on the platform surfaces directing toward it, though. But such is the nature of the old Post Office sitting over the west end of the platforms.

Penn Station still has ticket offices for the LIRR, and NJT has no presence at Moynihan, so it still has offices in the 8th and 7th Ave concourses. I believe Amtrak will move all ticketing to Moynihan, though. Amtrak's intent is to have people depart from Moynihan - hence, go there rather than Penn for outgoing trains.

JamesRR wrote:
There is only one elevator/escalator up to Moynihan from the accessible platforms, and it's at the FAR west end of those platforms. In many cases, passengers will likely use the closest exit stair - which won't be Moynihan. There are signs on the platform surfaces directing toward it, though. But such is the nature of the old Post Office sitting over the west end of the platforms.

Penn Station still has ticket offices for the LIRR, and NJT has no presence at Moynihan, so it still has offices in the 8th and 7th Ave concourses. I believe Amtrak will move all ticketing to Moynihan, though. Amtrak's intent is to have people depart from Moynihan - hence, go there rather than Penn for outgoing trains.

There are two escalators each for the main Amtrak platforms for tracks 5-16. Tracks 5/6 have only one escalator since it is shorter. In addition there is a staircase and an elevator up to the WEC (Moynihan lower level) from every platform for tracks 5+ and two of those elevators continue up to Moynihan. But tracks 11-16 have long enough platforms that most Amtrak trains can stop with the west end of the train just west of the western Moynihan escalator and give most passengers most direct access to one of those 4 routes upwards into the Farley building.

Opposition: https://www.tapinto.net/articles/new-co ... ation-plan

New York, NY—Governor Andrew Cuomo has big plans for the West Side of Manhattan. He wants to expand the beleaguered Penn Station one block south while at the same he wants to dramatically alter the West Side’s skyline with a massive real estate deal that will be even bigger than Hudson Yards. But a new coalition has formed to oppose the project and will be recommending an alternative plan during an upcoming press conference on Wednesday.
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The second part calls for building Penn Station South, which is expected to accommodate nine additional tracks and five new platforms. But the project isn’t a standalone. One way the expansion will be paid for is vis-à-vis the massive real estate deal in the surrounding neighborhood that will require the razing of some 50 buildings to make way for roughly 10 supertalls, as well as the additional track capacity.

The addition of the tracks and capacity is dependent upon, of course, the construction of a new trans-Hudson passenger rail tunnel known as the Gateway Tunnel. While the Trump administration rejected funding for the new tunnel, the Biden administration and Biden’s Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigeg have signaled that the project is a priority of the administration.
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Opposition: https://www.nj.com/news/2021/04/nyc-gro ... rains.html

The mega-plan to finance redeveloping Penn Station New York by allowing up to 10 new skyscrapers to be built in the surrounding mid-town Manhattan neighborhood around the subterranean station is running into some towering opposition.

A coalition of planning groups, transportation advocates, community boards and property owners have opposed the plan, which was announced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in late February.
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That plan would move NJ Transit trains off tracks 12 to 5 in the center of Penn Station and gives the best track real estate to Amtrak, the LIRR and Metro North, transit advocates said.

While most tracks, except tracks 1 to 4, are through tracks, all the tracks in Penn South also would be a dead-end to go anywhere except back to New Jersey, advocates said.

Now, many NJ Transit trains unload, go east and are parked in the Sunnyside yard in Queens until the evening rush. The addition plan “kills” access to Sunnyside yard if NJ Transit trains have no access to tracks that allow them to travel east, advocates said in 2020.

https://www.nj.com/news/2023/01/three-s ... utType=amp

Three sweeping ideas proposed to replace NYC’s old Penn Station, all require moving Madison Square Garden
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All three of the plans presented Thursday night had ideas about where to move the Garden, which is hampered at the present location between Seventh and Eighth avenues by the inability to drive 18-wheelers onto the arena floor for easy loading in and out, said Architect Vishaan Chakrabarti, of PAU Studio. That floor is the ceiling of the current Penn Station, he said.

All three designs would use ReThink NYC’s 2017 concept of “through running” trains at a new Penn Station with wider platforms. Trains would operate like a subway, stopping to load and unload riders instead of using it like a terminal by parking trains there or in the Sunnyside yard in Queens.

The plan would need cooperation and unifying technology between NJ Transit, Long Island Rail Road and Metro North so trains could run on another commuter railroad’s system. It would eliminate plans to build an annex south of Penn Station to hold additional trains expected after the Gateway Tunnel project is completed that would require demolition of buildings in the surrounding neighborhood.
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Anticipating major debates