Many agree, Penn Station needs an upgrade. Few agree on how that should be done or what it would look like.

A city-based nonprofit made up of transportation experts and advocates have put forward their own ideas and created 3-D mock-ups of what they envision as a future Penn Station that serves the needs of the most people while using as few dollars as possible.

What You Need To Know

  • The nonprofit ReThinkNYC is continuing to push its vision for the overhaul of Penn Station

  • It released a 3-D video rendering of what it calls a more efficient transit hub during a public webinar Thursday

  • ReThinkNYC wants sufficient track and platform capacity at Penn for 60 peak trains per hour and trains to run through the station, not just end their runs there

  • Leaders at the nonprofit also said any makeover of Penn Station should include a truly regional rail system for the New York City area that connects all lines within the Long Island Railroad, Metro North, NJ Transit systems and Amtrak

The nonprofit ReThinkNYC is continuing to push its vision for the overhaul of Penn Station. It released a 3-D video rendering of what it calls a more efficient transit hub during a public webinar Thursday.

“So right now you have these really low ceilinged platforms and concourses,” Alon Levy of Rethink NYC said. “There isn’t a lot of vertical circulation and the platforms are very narrow.”

ReThinkNYC wants sufficient track and platform capacity at Penn for 60 peak trains per hour and trains to run through the station, not just end their runs there.

The presentation comes after Gov. Kathy Hochul—over the summer—abandoned plans to allow developers to fund the potentially $7 billion reconstruction of Penn and instead consented to kicking in $1.3 billion in state aid while looking to local, state and federal aid for the rest.

Also this summer, a plan from private development firm, ASTM North America emerged, that would create one high-ceilinged concourse, buy the former Hulu Theater and create a grand entrance on 8th Avenue and keep MSG in place, a plan that MTA officials had criticized.  

Looming over the future of Penn Station has been the question of what to do with Madison Square Garden. Recently the City Council approved a five-year operating permit for MSG—a blow to owner James Dolan—who wanted a permit forever and does not want to see MSG moved in a Penn Station overhaul.

“If you move MSG, you don’t have the columns. If you don’t have the columns, everything is much easier,” Levy said, who is also a fellow in the Transportation and Land Use Department at NYU’s Marron Institute.

More than anything, Levy and other leaders at the nonprofit say any makeover of Penn Station should include a truly regional rail system for the New York City area that connects all lines within the Long Island Railroad, Metro North, NJ Transit systems and Amtrak - which owns Penn Station.

This collaborative approach, they said, would create more destinations for travelers and encourage more people to use trains.

Officials hope MSG’s five-year permit recently granted by the City Council is enough time for stakeholders to agree on what a facelift to Penn Station will look like, how much it will cost, and who will foot the bill.