Moynihan Train Hall

Moynihan Train Hall

The train hall in December 2022
Building	James A. Farley Building
Location	421 8th Avenue, New York City
Coordinates	40°45′04″N 73°59′43″W / 40.75111°N 73.99528°W / 40.75111; -73.99528
Area	255,000 sq ft (23,700 m2) 31,000 sq ft (2,900 m2) hall
Purpose	Headhouse and concourse
Owner	State of New York
Operator	Amtrak, Long Island Rail Road, NJ Transit Future: Metro-North Railroad
Dedicated	January 1, 2021
Named for	Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Architect	Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Website	moynihantrainhall.nyc

v t e Penn Station track layout
Legend
North River Tunnels to Secaucus to West Side Yard Empire Connection to Yonkers LD1 LD3 1A 3A 5A 2X 4X 6X LD2 LD4 1E 3E 5E 2A 2 1X 3X 5X 2E 4E 1C 4C 6C 8C 10C 2C 5C 7C 9C Mail platform 1D 4D 6D 7E 3D 5D A Interlocking F M I G U KN Interlocking Moynihan Train Hall 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 (Platform numbers) 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 20 (Track numbers) 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 19 21 (Track numbers) C Interlocking JO Interlocking 1 2 3 4 East River Tunnels
Legend
Passenger service tracks Yard/storage tracks Note: Interlocking towers A, KN, C, and JO have been deactivated.
Source:[1]

Moynihan Train Hall is an expansion of Pennsylvania Station, the main intercity and commuter rail station in New York City, into the city's former main post office building, the James A. Farley Building. Located between Eighth Avenue, Ninth Avenue, 31st Street, and 33rd Street in Midtown Manhattan, the annex provides new access to most of Penn Station's platforms for Amtrak and Long Island Rail Road passengers, serving 17 of the station's 21 tracks. The hall is named after Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the U.S. senator who had originally championed the plan. The building's Beaux-Arts exterior resembles that of the original Penn Station; both buildings were designed by the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White.

The 486,000 sq ft (45,200 m²) complex was built to alleviate congestion in Penn Station, which saw 650,000 daily riders before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The $1.6 billion renovation restored the Beaux-Arts Farley Building, a designated landmark, and added a central atrium with a glass roof. Moynihan Train Hall includes retail space, a 320-seat waiting area for ticket-holding passengers, and public restrooms. The hall is decorated with three artworks: a ceiling triptych named Go, a group of photographic panels, and a sculptural group.

The project had been in consideration since the early 1990s, with the first blueprints made public in 1993. However, several previous plans had failed because of a lack of funding and logistical difficulties. Amtrak withdrew as a tenant in 2004, but returned after the Farley Building was sold to the New York state government in 2006. A first phase, involving an expansion of a concourse under the Farley Building, started in 2010 and was completed in June 2017. Construction of the train hall proper commenced in 2017, and it opened January 1, 2021.