Penn Station Conversion Plans Move forward in NY

[Viewliner]

Click here for the story from Trains.com

Penn Station conversion plans move forward in New York

Plans to convert the General Post Office in New York into a new Pennsylvania Station are moving forward, project officials said during a news conference Tuesday.

Two new board members have been added to the board of the Pennsylvania Station Redevelopment Corp.: former Democratic Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan – who has championed the project – and Susan Molinari, a former Republican New York congresswoman.

The development corporation and the Postal Service are near an agreement on converting the building, The New York Times reported. After the September 11 attacks, the Postal Service said it would back out of the project, only to relent later under pressure from state and city officials.

 

[tp49]

There was an article on this in the New York Times. They said this is going forward without Amtrak spending any (or minimal) money on the project. An improved Penn would be nice.

 

[mkincaid]

What's wrong with the current Penn station, out of curiosity?

(hooray, 50th post... up to Service Attendant I go )

 

[AlanB]

It's underground and not really big enough for the current number of passengers that use it. So they want a station that's a little more grand, that people can see from the street. The Farley post office building is of older similar architecture to the original Penn station that was torn down years ago.

Of course part of the problem with Penn is NJT shares space with Amtrak. This will stop happening later this fall when NJT fully opens it's own new area. They will have a passenger waiting area, new ticket windows, along with new stairs and esculators.

So this sort of begs the question, is the Farley building really needed? Yes it's nice to have a nice big above ground station, but what are we going to do with the existing facilities?

 

[Amfleet]

Trust me, Penn Station is a mad house (remeber this is New York so colorful language is flying left and right). I just hope when the post office is converted they don't put that giant 5 story glass pannel up. I rather see it look like GC.

 

[tp49]

I was working in DC at the time the proposal for converting the Farley Building was thrown around. One of the big reasons they wanted to converth the Farley is because it resembles the old Penn Station that was torn down in 1968. Penn being torn down was also a major reason the preservationists in NYC were able to save Grand Central. Also, several functions in the building were going to be moved to other sites in the city namely 90 Church Street downtown. Thus rendering portions of the building surplus, empty, vacant. It was thought at the time that it would be nice at the least to move Amtrak into the building after the postal service left in an attempt to mitigate what was lost. Besides from the outside it's a lot better looking than the current Penn/MSG

 

[GWR]

Is the current sation anything worth looking at since I am going that way in october

Guuy

 

[Amfleet]

As a railfan it is still worth a gander.

 

[AlanB]

Well by and large there isn't much to see. Everything is underground and it kinda looks like a big shopping mall. On the upper level it’s got ticket windows for Amtrak and NJT, a waiting area, all florescent lighting, stores, and fast food places. Now the new NJ Transit area seems to be shaping up quite nicely, but again no sunlight what so ever. On the lower level you find the LIRR along with their ticket windows and waiting area. There are also connections to the subways on the lower level.

There is however none of the grandeur that one associates with the train stations of old. There is certainly nothing approaching the magnificence of Grand Central Terminal.

 

[tp49]

I do like how close the NJT area is much closer to the Seventh Avenue entrance, and the main LIRR waiting area. I was wondeirng what they were going to put behind that wooden barrier for the past six months until they finally took it away and we could see in. When I was there in July it looked like it will be nice, and hopefully will alleviate some of the congestion in the Amtrak area as they currently share

 

[njMike]

From the outside, NY Penn looks like any other faceless office building.

Once you have lowered yourself to the the station area, you're in a congested, low ceilinged, subturanian hole. A glorified subway stop with fast food. The Port Authority Bus Terminal looks like a shrine in comparison.

That about says it all. Mike

 

[njMike]

Whoa. Didn't intend to kill this thread... after all you *can* get a Cinnabon there...

Edit: Odd, I posted this at 5:30 PM EDT. Is the server in Anchorage, AK??? :huh:

 

[Amfleet]

Cinnabon, I'm there

 

[tp49]

Where's the Cinnabon place, I must have missed it B)

 

[battalion51]

I have some photos of Penn that I took while I was in New York, as well as one of the Post Office. I would love to see the Post Office be Penn Station. It has that Railroad look to it. The current Penn Station feels very closed in, and makes people feel claustrophobic. Where as at GCT it's very open, people are moving around and it's an overwhelming feeling that "this is a real train station" comes to mind.

 

[Amfleet]

Being in Washington Union Station, Philadelphia 30th Station, New York Penn, and Boston South Station. The most "railroad" like to me has to be Philadelphia 30th Street. Washington Union Station is nice but the passenger waiting area feels more like an airport.

 

[tp49]

Washington Union to me always felt like a shopping mall becasue of the large concentration of stores. The most interesting thing I ever saw there was Georgetown University rented the station for a graduation party in 1996. Made getting a taxi back to my hotel very difficult after going to an Orioles game and coming back after the Metro stopped running.