posted
Does anyone know of any plans to convert the Post Office next door to Penn Station into a new Penn Station while ridding Train travelers of the current rat maze (an embarrassment) that passes for one?
Posts: 5 | From: pensacola, Fl USA | Registered: Jul 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
You mean, a new concourse. Those plans are proceeding forward slowly. Mind you, what with the current alleged NYC budget crisis, it would have been more prudent to keep the current station, which is far less of a rat's maze than it was during the 1980s—I take it that you have not been there in a long while; NJ Transit has its own concourse close to 7th Avenue, plus a lot of the blocked-off areas on the LIRR lower concourse are much more open than in the past.
Back to the Farley PO, they (NY state) have thus far spent $230 million to buy it from the USPS. Converting it into a mockery of the past Penn Station that was demolished for no good reason will cost lots more—please note that adding tracks and platforms is not included in the project. Meanwhile, so-called Mayor Bloomberg cuts police, fire and EMT staff, reduces garbage pick-ups and eliminates recycling, acquiesces to the MTA fare/toll hikes and continues with his plans to put tolls on the bridges over the East River...not a nice compromise if you ask me.
posted
I use NY Penn Station on a weekly basis and it is rat maze and constanty under construction. New NJT conourse is nice, but their are many alleyways left that are crumbling and can cause confusion. Even with the opening of the NJT councourse the coucourses track platforms are overcrowded. And it is only going to get worse! I often find myself helping out fellow Amtrak passengers out of New York Penn Station, as finding an exit can be difficult if you take the wrong staircase from track level. It's like beating a dead horse - but we drastially need more track platforms, the Grand Central connection (part of ARC Plan), and the Farley building to name a few items.
Posts: 337 | Registered: Jun 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I don't think that Alternative G of the Access to the Region's Core study is going to happen at all; more likely, Alternative P, the one that involves new tracks at Penn, would occur in conjunction with building a new two-track tunnel under the Hudson River. However, the Farley Concourse project is a separate one at present and really would not facilitate any easier movement of passengers in and out of NY Penn. Of course, if Alternative G were actually implemented, there would be no need for turning the Farley PO into a concourse for Amtrak since the potential would be there to move all Amtrak operations completely out of NY Penn...
(Also, personally, I try to refrain from using the "ARC" abbreviation, since the same acronym also refers to the Amtrak Reform Council...)
[This message has been edited by irishchieftain (edited 07-12-2003).]
Printer-friendly view of this topic
