Significantly expanding Penn Station’s train capacity will require also expanding its footprint, according to a new study that ruled out the feasibility of reconfiguring Penn’s current operation or adding more tracks beneath the existing facility.
Still being considered, officials said, are plans to build out Penn Station, including by buying and demolishing the block south of the transit hub.
The study, commissioned by Amtrak, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and New Jersey Transit, analyzed four different options for doubling the number of trains operating across the Hudson River into and out of Penn Station once work is complete on Amtrak’s Gateway Tunnel project. The $16 billion effort would build a second tunnel across the Hudson by 2035.
Because the added capacity would be for trains going across the Hudson, the proposed improvements would not benefit the LIRR as much as it would Amtrak and NJ Transit.
The four options included two that would build new tracks below the existing facility, including by potentially mining caverns deep below the 114-year-old station — a strategy employed with the construction of the LIRR’s new Manhattan station, Grand Central Madison, which was built beneath the existing Grand Central Terminal.
Two other options looked at using so-called “through-running” to expand Penn’s ability to handle train traffic. Under that strategy, Penn would become less of a train terminal and more of a stop along the way, with Amtrak and New Jersey Transit trains continuing eastbound, potentially to Long Island, and westbound trains — including LIRR ones — continuing to New Jersey. Although the strategy would involve reducing the number of tracks at Penn Station, from the existing 21 to as few as 17, Penn’s capacity could increase because trains would spend less time dwelling at platforms, project officials said.
The study ultimately concluded that all of those options had fatal flaws, either because of their inability to meet safety requirements, to deliver the desired doubling of trains crossing the Hudson River from 24 an hour to 48, how difficult they would be to build, or the impact on Penn’s existing service.
Under one scenario, Penn Station would have to curtail the number of trains it operates by 30% for about 12 years–“an unacceptable level of disruption,” the study conducted by consulting firms FXCollaborative Architects and WSP concluded.
“What we found is that we will need to expand beyond the boundaries of Penn to reach the 48-trains-per hour trans-Hudson capacity goal,” Amtrak senior program director Petra Messick said at a Tuesday media briefing in Manhattan. “Next, we’re going to look beyond the footprint of Penn Station. Physically, we’re going to expand our purview and look at acquiring property to expand capacity.”
One option, initially proposed by former governor Andrew M. Cuomo in 2020, would add eight tracks to Penn by taking over the block bordered by Seventh and Eighth avenues and 30th and 31st streets. That proposal has met plentiful resistance, as it would mean displacing hundreds of residents and businesses and knocking down some historical structures, including a 150-year-old church.
Messick said the railroads are “just beginning” to study the feasibility of proposals to annex to Penn Station. She said the studies wouldn’t consider the cost of any of the options until they were determined to be feasible.
Asked about the study on Tuesday, MTA officials said they are more focused on a separate effort to rebuild Penn Station above the track level, including by opening up more space for LIRR and subway riders on the concourse level, adding new entrances, and letting in natural light.
“Our focus is making Penn Station a more functional place for the riders who are there — many more people than that facility was designed for,” MTA chairman and CEO Janno Lieber said at a separate event. “We’re going to leave to Amtrak and New Jersey Transit how to accommodate their trains.”
Check back for updates on this developing story.
Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.
