Penn Station Steams Through AC Outage

[Shortline Bus]

As tempatures soared this week, a project to improve the air-conditioning system at Pennsylvania Station had a perverse side effect: the jam-packed railroad station over-heated.

 

Problems peaked Tuesday afternoon when temperatures surpassed 90 degrees in parts of the station, according to a spokesman for New Jersey Transit, which suffered through particularly muggy waiting areas. The railroad remained in operation but allowed passengers to use NJ Transit tickets on PATH trains during the afternoon rush in an effort to keep as many riders as possible away from the sweltering station.

 

The high temperatures persisted Wednesday morning. A customer-service office near the railroad’s ticket counter remained closed because of “excessive heat,” according to a sign posted on the door.

 

“Normally it is only this hot underground in the subway,” said Ja-Yee Or, 32 years old, as she waited to catch a train to Basking Ridge, N.J.

 

The air-conditioning overhaul, like the station itself, is controlled by Amtrak. The spiking temperatures stem from efforts to improve Penn Station’s dated climate system, according to an Amtrak spokesman. The railroad began a $30 million replacement of the chillers and cooling towers for the ventilation system in May 2010.

 

The ongoing construction has reduced the capacity of the newer cooling towers that serve Amtrak’s waiting area in the station, as well as the East End Concourse where NJ Transit operates. (A spokesman for the Long Island Rail Road said its waiting areas were not affected Tuesday afternoon.)

 

An Amtrak spokesman said the contractor, Kiewit Constructors Inc., will work around the clock to bring cool air back to the station. Work on the current phase of the air-conditioning upgrade is expected to be completed sometime this weekend.

 

The entire project, which will double the cooling capacity for the station, is slated for completion in October.

 

Commuters were also feeling the humidity inside the New Jersey transit concourse Wednesday. Many fanned themselves as they waited for their trains, and several large fans had been set up in the concourse."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://blogs.wsj.com...=WSJ_NY_NY_Blog

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Well Grand Central needs something like this too... Only parts of GC are air conditioned and it is quite brutal walking through the hot sections. Seems like there is heat trapped or heat that builds up in the station IMO that should be addressed.

[Tokkemon]

Super. It will be done in October, just in time for it not to be useful.