![]() Ticketing and baggage claim is only available at Moynihan, while Penn is closer to subways, offers NJ Transit connections, and has numerous food choices (Starbucks is the only concession currently open at the new facility). venue.Īrriving Amtrak passengers must decide which station they want to pass through. Exclusively for Acela First Class and sleeping car passengers, it offers an elevated vantage point of a bustling station unlike vistas in any other U.S. ![]() Ditto for the new station’s plush Metropolitan Lounge, located on Moynihan’s upper south balcony. The “Ticketed Waiting Room” at Moynihan, with custom-molded walnut benches and Canadian photographer/artist Stan Douglas’ photo murals dramatizing scenes from the demolished Penn Station, is clearly the most luxurious waiting area for commuters and intercity coach travelers in the country. However, those high-numbered tracks can be accessed via a nearby ramp leading to the Long Island concourse, which had been extended west several years ago. Long Island trains are also announced and posted on departure displays at both Moynihan and the Long Island concourse at Penn, including LIRR trains that depart from tracks 17 through 21 (there is an elevator to track 17 at Moynihan, but no escalators). Moynihan’s “Ticketed waiting area” for Amtrak and Long Island Rail Road passengers features photo murals of the original Penn Station. Thus, when an Acela departs for Boston on track 9, simultaneous announcements are made for that track at Moynihan and for “9 West” at Penn Station. News Wire recently witnessed the usual line-up in front of Penn’s departure display, where Amtrak and NJT passengers wait for a gate to be posted minutes before departure. Though not advertised, all Amtrak trains are announced and can still be boarded and exited through Penn Station, which is closer than Moynihan Train Hall to busy 7th Avenue subway lines. But they may exit through the new station if their inbound train happens to arrive at any track above 4. Since they wouldn’t have access to all tracks, NJT customers can’t depart from Moynihan. The Long Island has a separate concourse for its commuters, while NJ Transit built an additional ticketing and waiting area to take pressure off the concourse it shares with Amtrak. Thus, the ”old” Penn Station is the only place where travelers have access to all tracks. ![]() 1, 2021, those tracks host just NJ Transit moves.Īdditionally, Amtrak Empire Service trains (including the Lake Shore Limited) can only load passengers on tracks 5 through 9, because those have sole direct access to both the East River tunnels (to Sunnyside) and the “Empire Connection,” which enters Penn south of the Hudson River tunnels. Amtrak used these relatively short tracks for New York-Harrisburg, Pa., Keystone push-pull trains that didn’t need to be serviced at Sunnyside Yard east of Manhattan. Tracks 1 through 4 are western-facing stub ends, so they are unavailable to Long Island Rail Road trains headed to and from the East River Tunnels. The view of the train hall’s vaulted ceiling, as revealed when ascending the escalator from track 9 at night. With the longest of 21 station tracks in the middle and shorter tracks on the sides, only the six most central platforms - handling traffic on tracks 5 through 16- extend far enough to allow escalators and elevators to replace the chutes and conveyor belts that once distributed mail. Farley Building, which now houses the train hall, was built in 1912 over the western portion of many - but not all - platforms of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s newly-constructed station. Post Office facility that eventually became the James A. Yet anyone getting off a train or making connections between Amtrak, New Jersey Transit, and Long Island Rail Road service in New York should understand how the Moynihan Train Hall and Penn Station now function together - and separately. ![]() One escalator ride from track level to the Moynihan Train Hall, instead of the labyrinth of multi-level passageways remaining after the original Penn Station was demolished in the 1960s, more than validates his vision. Senator from New York, who died in 2003, never got to see his words emblazoned above the Amtrak baggage carousel in a corner of the truss-roofed, skylight-topped interior space that now bears his name. ![]() NEW YORK - “In the old time,” Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said, “you arrived at Pennsylvania Station at the train platform. Passengers flock to track 15 at the Moynihan Train Hall to board the New Orleans-bound Crescent on Jan. ![]()
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