Amtrak agrees to join long-delayed makeover of Farley Post Office as Moynihan Station

[Harry]

Amtrak is back on board.

 

After six months of negotiations with state and city officials, the railroad agreed to join the long-delayed makeover of Farley Post Office as Moynihan Station.

 

"This is a major breakthrough," Sen. Chuck Schumer, who led the negotiations, said yesterday. Amtrak, which dropped out of the W. 33rd St. redevelopment several years ago, came back because it needs space to expand and was promised a share of the project's revenues, he said.

 

The project, conceived a decade and a half ago by the late Sen. Daniel Moynihan, will turn the post office into a railway terminal evoking the grandeur of the old Penn Station, which was torn down in 1963.

 

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/real_estate/2009/09/14/2009-09-14_amtrak_says_all_aboard_on_station.html#ixzz0R53vy3Qs

[metsfan]

Please no. :tdown::cry::confused::eek:B)

 

- A

[metsfan]

I am having trouble understanding moving a huge transportation hub away from the . It will just make it harder to make trains on time, make 8th ave even more crowded, and instead of a one long block walk to herald square, will be 2. Plus, i'm sorry, but it needs to remain named pennsylvania station. PRR invested billions in today's dollars to build a connection from the rest of the country to new york. That name should not be secondary or made of a lesser roll. I say they can call the post office "moynihan station building", but the rail station should remain "new york pennsylvania station" or "new york penn" etc.

 

The real mistake was demolishing the original station building, please don't make it worse by ruining what's left.

 

- A

[KeystoneRegional]

Please, watch the Nazi Banksters Crimes Ripple Effect at http://jforjustice.co.uk/banksters

[traildriver]

Penn Station will always be Penn Station, regardless of what the politicos want it to be called. Just like Sixth Avenue is called Sixth Avenue and not "Avenue of the America's".

[nel070]

I am having trouble understanding moving a huge transportation hub away from the . It will just make it harder to make trains on time, make 8th ave even more crowded, and instead of a one long block walk to herald square, will be 2. Plus, i'm sorry, but it needs to remain named pennsylvania station. PRR invested billions in today's dollars to build a connection from the rest of the country to new york. That name should not be secondary or made of a lesser roll. I say they can call the post office "moynihan station building", but the rail station should remain "new york pennsylvania station" or "new york penn" etc.

 

The real mistake was demolishing the original station building, please don't make it worse by ruining what's left.

 

- A

 

i agree by moving it further west it is limiting the access

[Far Rock Depot]

im sure its enterences will still be accessable from 7th ave. they are just making its main building on 8th ave. if you think about it, amtrak is tecnically already on 8th ave. just fully underground right now

[metsfan]

They should also refurbish the interior of the current station. The (NJT) area is VERY nice, but the and amtk parts are kinda tired and falling apart.

 

- A

[AgedPolaris]

(I am going to post my review of the Keystone service soon, which the train ride was awesome!) ...but Penn Station as it is, is awful - I loathe it with every fiber of my being - it's like they were trying to dissuade people from riding trains at the time. For the person who uses it on a fairly regular basis, it just sucks. It's crowded, claustrophobic, aesthetically unappealing, confusing, and it ranks as my least favorite railroad station all time, by bounds.

 

Compare riding a Metro-North train into Grand Central from any of the commuter services that run into Penn. Yes, Grand Central can become very crowded, but with the high, stunning ceilings and beautiful surroundings... you don't feel crushed in. Same goes for 30th street in Philly.

 

I'm sure the design of the hypothetical station will not be as short-sighted as the abomination they conducted in the 1960s, I hope they have learned from their crippling mistake. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the PRR in 1960s was not the same PRR from before. When I walked around the station at Lancaster, PA - I got a feel for the PRR's better days. Penn Station simply marks the RR's end, almost mockingly.

[AgedPolaris]

I guess just to clarify, although I think the "Moynihan station" is an interesting idea, it has to prove that it will improve operational efficiency and be more than just a nicer entrance and huge waiting room while access to the platforms remains at it's current dismal state. Obviously the construction costs and inconvenience will be great, although from what I've read the current "post office" is nearly abandoned as is.

 

My point being, several things need to be done, and need to be done urgently.

 

What is needed IMMEDIATELY is a system to make the current station more secure. If I buy a ticket and have to wait an hour in the middle of the night, I should be able to show my tickets and enter a secure waiting area with at least modestly clean and open bathrooms, and not have to deal with droves of sleeping bums and a NJT employee literally yelling at me to "get the f*** out of here" when I was told by an employee downstairs at the LIRR concourse that the bathrooms @ NJT were open. If you're used to the area between the LIRR and NJT concourses, they have the little slide-gate shut about 75% of the way... but there's nothing saying it's closed.

 

Amtrak, LIRR, and NJT paying customers need improvements - not a shanty basement with falling ceiling tiles and no open bathrooms, and maybe a damn seat - the most spartan of requests. Have secure ticket-checks and get the bums out. It seems like in the current Penn station, it's such a s***hole that nobody really cares who goes in or out. Even the current station can be improved with these simple things.