Moynihan Train Hall
Moynihan Train Hall is an expansion of Pennsylvania Station, the main intercity and commuter rail station in New York City, into the city's former main post office building, the James A. Farley Building. Located between Eighth Avenue, Ninth Avenue, 31st Street, and 33rd Street in Midtown Manhattan, the annex provides new access to most of Penn Station's platforms for Amtrak and Long Island Rail Road passengers, serving 17 of the station's 21 tracks. The hall is named after Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the U.S. Senator who had originally championed the plan. The building's exterior resembles that of the original Penn Station; both buildings were designed by the same architect, McKim, Mead & White, in the Beaux-Arts style.
The 486,000 sq ft (45,200 m2) complex was built to alleviate congestion in Penn Station, which saw 650,000 daily riders before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The $1.6 billion renovation restored the Beaux-Arts Farley Building, a designated landmark, and added a central atrium with a glass roof. Moynihan Train Hall includes retail space, a 320-seat waiting area, and public restrooms. The hall is decorated with three artworks: a ceiling triptych named Go, a group of photographic panels, and a sculptural group.
The project had been in consideration since the early 1990s, with the first blueprints made public in 1993. However, several previous plans had failed because of a lack of funding and logistical difficulties. Amtrak withdrew as a tenant in 2004, but returned after the Farley Building was sold to the New York state government in 2006. A first phase, involving an expansion of a concourse under the Farley Building, started in 2010 and was completed in June 2017. Construction of the train hall proper commenced in 2017, and it opened January 1, 2021.
Moynihan Train Hall occupies part of the James A. Farley Building, a Beaux-Arts structure designed by McKim, Mead & White alongside the original Penn Station, and opened in 1914 as New York City's main post office.[2] The building occupies the block across Eighth Avenue from the current Penn Station facilities, and is bounded by Eighth Avenue to the east, 31st Street to the south, Ninth Avenue to the west, and 33rd Street to the north.[3] The James A. Farley Building is a New York City designated landmark[4] and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[5] The train hall occupies a portion of the post office's mail sorting hall,[6] while most of the rest of the building is leased by Facebook as office space.[7][8]
The 486,000 sq ft (45,200 m2) complex was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). It consists of a 31,000 sq ft (2,900 m2) passenger concourse[9] underneath a 92 ft (28 m) tall glass skylight.[10][11] A four-faced clock, measuring 12 feet (3.7 m) tall and more than 6 feet (1.8 m) across each of its sides, is at the center of the passenger concourse.[11] The space contains three permanent artworks. Kehinde Wiley designed a stained-glass triptych on the ceiling, named Go. Along an 80-foot (24 m) stretch of wall, Stan Douglas's photographic panels, Penn Station's Half Century, depicts passengers of the original Penn Station.[11][12][13]
At the 31st Street entrance, Elmgreen & Dragset created a sculptural group, The Hive, that depicts skyscrapers hanging from the ceiling.[11][12][13] The hall also includes 120,000 sq ft (11,000 m2) of retail space.[7] Moynihan Train Hall contains passenger facilities for Amtrak, its primary tenant. These include a ticketing and baggage area, a waiting lounge, conference spaces, and a balcony 20 ft (6.1 m) above the hall.[14]
