Amtrak Report Seeks to End Penn Station New York Debate

A diagram showing the columns that would need to be replaced or removed to expand the platforms at Penn Station New York.

Penn Station needs to expand

It’s at capacity, and more trains are on the way

New York’s Penn Station is, by far, the busiest railroad station in North America.

And, it is going to get a lot busier with additional Amtrak trains, more New Jersey Transit trains, and new Metro-North trains from the Hudson and New Haven lines.

Local advocates and the railroads agree that the station needs to expand. The question is how?

There is no inexpensive or simple solution. And, a larger Federal Railway Program will be needed to get the job done.

 

One of the entrances to New Penn Station under Madison Square Garden.
Madison Square Garden and other buildings make it difficult to expand Penn Station.
A map of the various projects making the NEC Gateway program.

The Gateway Program will double the number of tracks from Newark Penn Station.

Goal: More than double existing volumes

Penn Station is the east end of the Gateway Program

Gateway is a series of bridges and tunnels that will double the number of tracks from Newark, NJ.  The existing tracks can handle 24 trains per hour.  The station will need to handle 48 per hour after Gateway.

Plus, Metro-North is working to add trains from the Hudson Line on the west end and the New Haven line on the east end.

The railroads want to build Penn Station South

A new report says other alternatives won’t work.

Amtrak, the MTA, and NJ Transit want to solve the problem by adding a 12-track, two-level addition next to the existing station. This would require clearing three city blocks.  The proposal is currently undergoing environmental review.

New York-area advocacy groups have been pushing the railroads to reconstruct the existing platforms and institute through running.  They believe that full through running will eliminate the need to expand Penn Station’s footprint.

On October 2, Amtrak released a feasibility study of four alternatives for expanding Penn Station New York without adding to its footprint.

A diagram showing the new track layout for a two-level extension of New York Penn Station.
A 3-D illustration of a two-level addition to Penn Station New York.

This report was generated to compare community-led proposals against Amtrak’s Penn Station South proposal, which is undergoing environmental review.

The platforms are the root problem

Buildings above make it hard to fix

The boarding platforms are too narrow to safely handle large crowds getting on and off trains. Everyone has to be off the train and off the platform before boarding passengers can be let down to the platform.

As a result, trains spend too long ‘dwelling’ at the station.  Fixing the platforms would reduce dwell times and allow more trains to be served.

But, there are hundreds and hundreds of columns supporting buildings, streets, and even a subway line.

The study looked at two alternatives for rebuilding the platforms.  It argues that the cost of rebuilding the station and the disruption to daily operations wouldn’t yield enough benefit.

A diagram showing the 1045 columns that would need to be replaced or removed to fix the platforms at Penn Station New York.
An estimated 1,045 columns would need to be removed or replaced to modernize the track and platform layout.

Through running would help

It requires investments beyond Penn Station

Amtrak already runs Washington – New York – Boston trains through the station, but they intend to add more trains from New York to Washington than New York to Boston.

Also, many NJ Transit trains run empty through the East River tunnels to Sunnyside Yard.  Likewise, Long Island RR trains run through the station to a storage yard a couple of blocks west.

Combining routes so that trains ran from New Jersey onto Long Island and vice versa would allow both railroads to carry more people and make taking the train more attractive.

Unfortunately, the two railroads have different electrical supplies, different signaling systems, and different clearance profiles.  Metro-North’s Hudson and New Haven lines add two more sets of standards into the mix.

Through running would require buying new trains capable of running on each railroad or rebuilding all to the same standard.  And, through running would require Amtrak, Long Island RR, Metro-North, and NJ Transit to come to complicated revenue and cost sharing arrangements.

Through running should happen, regardless of the platform solution.

A potential through running pattern at Penn Station New York.
The study did scenarios with most trains running through the station.

A new lower level also considered

Fire safety is a real issue

The study also studied two options for tracks underneath the existing tracks.

Getting to and from the tracks from the street, especially in a fire, makes these options undesirable.

A diagram illustrating a new set of tracks underneath Penn Station New York.
The study also looked at two options for new tracks under Penn Station.

High-speed rail to Boston not discussed

Plans for new tracks under the East River were not included

Amtrak has developed concept plans for a new tunnel under the East River that would add two new tracks towards Long Island and Boston. These tunnels and the lower level platforms at Penn Station South would help achieve a 2-hour or less New York – Boston trip time.

Adding high-speed rail to Boston was not analyzed in this report, but probably should have been.

A map showing potential trip times on a Boston - NYC high-speed line.

Penn Station South would facilitate high-speed rail to Boston.

We need a Federal Railway Program

It is time to think big across the country

The path forward at Penn Station New York is not yet clear.  But, we know that expansion is desperately needed. We also know that it will have a much higher benefit than highway and airport expansion of similar cost.

We should celebrate that the railroads are planning for big growth.  This kind of thinking is needed in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, and other major cities across the country.

It will require a big Federal Railway Program, similar to the Interstate Highway Program, to fix Penn Station and get planning underway across the country.

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