The $414 million renovation of Penn Station‘s Long Island Rail Road concourse is now complete in Midtown, Manhattan. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, AECOM, and Skanska, the project centered on the station’s cavernous 33rd Street corridor, improving circulation and access for more than 600,000 people who traverse the corridor daily.
The project team widened the concourse, increased ceiling heights, upgraded lighting and digital screens throughout the space, and completed much-needed mechanical and electrical upgrades. The team also constructed a new elevator on West 33rd Street, rebuilt stairs, and installed new handrails for improved ADA access.
A view inside Penn Station’s Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) Concourse before construction – Courtesy of © SOM
Pedestrians inside Penn Station’s new Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) Concourse – Courtesy of Lucas Blair Simpson © SOM
Pedestrians inside Penn Station’s new Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) Concourse – Courtesy of Lucas Blair Simpson © SOM
“The most heavily used concourse of America’s busiest train station has been entirely transformed, both visually and functionally,” said AECOM’s New York Metro executive Thomas Prendergast. “The improvements make commuting more convenient, while also allowing this transit hub to have the capacity and accessibility to meet New York’s growing transportation needs.”
This latest phase of Penn Station’s modernization was awarded to the project team in 2020, following an exhaustive request for proposal and review process. Construction broke ground in January 2021, and its completion brings the station one step closer to becoming a world-class transportation hub.
Skanska, AECOM, and SOM also completed Penn Station’s East End Gateway, an ornate new entryway that is the first project to bring natural light into the concourse in decades. Skanska also led the construction of Moynihan Train Hall, where SOM served as the lead design firm.
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Gotta give them credit, this is a huge improvement to what was there before. I hope the plans include replacing the floors too, though. The old floors clash too much with the new interiors and looks kind of bad…
Now we just need to get people to go back to work and commute into Manhattan. This was designed and proposed pre covid.
LIRR and MNR are currently sitting at ~70%+ mid-week ridership versus pre-pandemic levels. Weekend levels have consistently been much higher and even exceeded pre-pandemic levels, though have a higher variation. Ridership levels are trending up.
I hate to use the term “gaslighting” as it is often misused, but there are definitely a trend of people trying to portray a future reality where office work is dead, likely because they don’t want to ever commute to Manhattan from Orange County (or similar) ever again. I suspect the reason mass remote work has lasted this long is because of how tight the labor market is. I have noticed a trend that the larger corporate employers who have the strictest office work policies also have announced substantial layoffs.
This is a huge transformation! Looking forward to more enhancements of Penn station and the surrounding area. The 33rd St escalator and view of the Empire State Building as you ascend is the perfect NYC welcome to visitors who take LIRR from JFK to Manhattan.
Not matter we need a new Penn station to its glory otherwise all is cosmetic fix.
Will they finally clean up the dark, dirty train platforms? It’s like entering a dungeon.
A comment like that shows you obviously haven’t ridden the LIRR from either Penn or Atlantic Terminal in quite some time. The lighting on the platforms was improved a while and now they’ve also put in updated brighter platform signage for the train destinations.
Will they finally clean up the dark, dirty train platforms? It’s like entering a dungeon.
Beautiful update. I just hope they also eventually replace the flooring, because the gross dirty look really clashes hard with the new renovation.
This looks a whole lot better.
Huge improvement. Now on to the next phases of the Penn Station revitalization – the new LIRR great hall, NJ Transit expansion, adding Metro North, adding capacity on the Empire Line, Penn South and the new tunnel. And hopefully eventually moving MSG.
No, MSG is perfect where it is! It’s one of only two New York sports arenas in a good location.
My idea is to eliminate the main floor of Penn Station and have everything at the LIRR level. This would allow easier circulation and provide the much-wanted higher ceiling. The NJT arrangement is poor with some trains being down some steps to the LIRR and others from the old Amtrak concourse being reached by going down to the lower level. A more orderly and obvious design is needed. The new LIRR area is very nice, but wonder if the LED ceiling is supposed to reflect current outdoor weather.
Proposals for reviving the pompous and not entirely convenient former Penn Station, which I’m old enough to remember, are absurd and crazily expensive. What’s needed is easy circulation, good signs, cleanliness, and convenience. Through-running trains should be considered seriously. The LIRR improvement is welcome. Moynihan Hall wasn’t essential and was costly; it serves too few tracks and the shops and services aren’t easily visible toward 9th Ave. It’s not evident from 7th Ave, but hey, it’s there and it looks nice. Spend money more wisely for functional efficiency in the future.
Penn Station is awesome. Can we just get them to clean the floors?
The place looks so much brighter and feels more spacious than before when it was dark, dingy, and outdated. Nice Job! Are those stores next to the escalators with advertisements on their windows? If so, are they trying to get businesses into the place? Even so beautiful job!
The “pigeon homes” will simply “direct deposit” banking. I walked by there when the 5th Ave. bus was detoured by the fire in the library wastepaper basket that set off a terrorist response by the police. The nodes need a little something at ground level. Animal paws might be fun.