NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Officials cut the ribbon on the new Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station on Wednesday, a $1.6 billion project that was on budget and on schedule despite the pandemic.
The new hall is named after U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a Democrat who championed the project and died in 2003. Gov. Andrew Cuomo first announced the project in his 2016 State of the State speech.
In 2017, work began to transform the landmark Farley Post Office into the new hall across the street from the old Penn Station. It will be used by Long Island Rail Road and Amtrak passengers.
All LIRR and Amtrak trains will now be serviced by nine platforms and 17 tracks accessible from the main train hall. There will be a direct connection to the Eighth Avenue subway and, for the first time, direct access to the train station from Ninth Avenue.
Eric Gertler, president and CEO of Empire State Development, said Wednesday that the sun-lit hall is 255,000 square feet and represents a 50% expansion in total concourse space compared to the old, cavernous Penn Station. He said what was once “a monument to inaction” is now “a true transit hub.”
Gertler said there is “state of the art” wayfinding via dozens of LED and LCD displays, and that free Wi-Fi, lounges, art installations and 700,000 square feet of commercial, retail and dining space “will all make for a more comfortable experience for all riders.”
The East End Gateway entrance at 33rd Street and Seventh Avenue has also been completed. It will provide access to the LIRR concourse and opens for public use on Thursday.
The entire transit hub, known as the Empire Station Complex, would connect to the anticipated Gateway Tunnel, Gertler said.
Speaking underneath the hall's 92-foot-high skylight at Wednesday’s ribbon-cutting, Cuomo said the project was “a testament and a monument to the public” after an unprecedented year.
“This would be an amazing accomplishment at any time, but it is an extraordinary accomplishment today,” Cuomo said. “We close this chapter on 2020, but we learn the lessons and we move forward to 2021. And what this hall says to me as we head towards the New Year is: yes, yes we can. Yes we can learn. Yes we can grow. As dark as 2020 was, to me this hall brings the light, literally and figuratively. It brings the light. Which way do we head? We bring the light. New York brings the light. That’s what this magnificent skylight says to me today.”
