…Interesting article on the NYC “Moynihan Station” plans in trouble, as reported in TRAINS news wire.
After reading the article, it seems {to me}, the project has ballooned to a too large massive project that might be impossible to bring it all together and finance.
It was my understanding when it was originally put together for re doing the PennStation, the funding was in place, but now it seems to have spiraled into something much larger.
Where is Moyhihan station located. I am from New York originally and can’t recall hearing about it.
That is the proposal to replace the current Amtrak station (on the footprint of Penn Station) with a new above-ground facility in the Farley Post Office building. I guess the same underground area would be used.
Doesn’t exist right now, Jim; maybe that’s why you haven’t heard of it.
…Senator Moynihan’s name is associated with the PennStation redo. Believe he was one involved creating the redo idea. Maybe even some of financing.
It is my understanding the facilities {tracks}, pass right under the Farley Post Office building too.
The old Farley Post Office is right across 7th avenue from Penn Station. The tracks pass under the post office to get to the station so the only thing that would need to be done is move the throat of the yard back beyond 8th avenue to allow for the new station platforms to be further west on the other side of 7th avenue. No major rebuild of tracks coming the under the Hudson river would be necessary.
I really shouldn’t be saying this but I’m actually working on the development of this project and have an inside view of what has been going on. Most of what I know is already public information.
-First off Moynihan Station is indeed to be named for former NY Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan who was a champion of both passenger rail and of the project to turn the James Farley Post Office across the street from the current Pennsylvania Station into a new more spacious station for Amtrak and its tenants.
-That plan was moving along very nicely except for one major problem in planning and an issue with Amtrak. Amtrak which lives paycheck to paycheck could not guarentee to pay their portion of the rehibilitation and backed out of the project choosing to staying in the basement of the current station. As a result, the only tenant willing to move into the new place was New Jersey Transit. Although the Amtrak issue could have killed the project, what the planners did NOT take into account was the fact that the owners of Madison Square Garden (which sits above the current Penn Station) have talked openly about moving the arena and the plans for the new Moynihan Station did not take that into account in their study. As a result, the Empire State Redevelopment Corp (a burracratic authority in NY) squashed the approval of the new station until a new study was completed which would include the relocation of the arena.
-The current plan is to transform the original east end (8th Avenue) of the Farley Post Office into a new Penn Station (currently designated Moynihan Station West). A new, larger Madison Square Garden arena would be consturcted to the west side (9th Avenue) of the post office. The old MSG arena would be torn down, replaced by a new, more “skywardly open” Penn Station (currently designated Moynihan Station East) and would include lots of retail space… sort of like Washington Union Statio
MWRA:
Thanks for all the insight and info on the project we’ve been discussing. Appreciate all of it.
Looking back…Way back…Isn’t it a shame the magnificent structure of PennStation was destroyed back in the mid 1960’s…What a shame. That could now have been updated to the 21st century needs of design and still retained the beauty of a building that it was. GCT had a great revival and renovation, cleaning etc…and brought back it’s beauty.
And back some years ago, MSQ Arena could have been built at an appropriate location for it.