Transportation

New Moynihan Train Hall to Open New Year’s Day

Amtrak will celebrate the grand opening of Moynihan Train Hall in midtown to passengers on New Year’s Day, January 1, 2021.

Located directly across the street on Eighth Avenue from the current Amtrak home of Penn Station, Moynihan Hall is located in the Farley Post Office Building and named after the late New York senator Patrick Moynihan.

The 255,000-square-foot, $1.6 billion project transformed the more than 100-year-old James A. Farley Post Office Building into a modern, world-class facility that dramatically upgrades and redesigns America’s busiest transit hub, increasing the existing Penn Station rail complex’s concourse space by 50 percent.

Amtrak Chair Tony Coscia released the following statement: “Amtrak’s Moynihan Train Hall will deliver the world-class rail travel experience our customers deserve when traveling to and from this incredible city. The beautiful vistas, modern design, new amenities and enhanced accessibility features showcase the kinds of improvements Amtrak is undertaking across our network. Amtrak dreamed up this plan 35 years ago and we deeply thank the Governor, Senator Schumer and the New York Congressional delegation, and all out partners for helping to make it a reality.”

It’s been a rough 2020 for Amtrak, like most travel-related businesses, due to the pandemic. For fiscal year 2020 (Oct. 2019 – Sept. 2020), Amtrak served 16.8 million riders, down 15.2 million from the previous year. Operating revenues were $2.3 billion, down 31% from last year. The train service had a loss of $801.1 million for the year.

Additional Information on Moynihan Station

  • The new station, combined with recent improvements to New York Penn Station, will relieve crowding, improve passenger comfort and security, and offer an enhanced facility that will better serve Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor (NEC) and long-distance travelers, and commuter rail passengers.
  • Moynihan Train Hall includes large, spacious areas for customers to explore and physical distance from others, accessible features that cater to the needs of all Amtrak customers, state-of-the-art technologies to improve the boarding experience using the free customer WiFi throughout the station, a large boarding concourse that features a sky lit atrium approximately the size of the Grand Central Terminal’s Main Hall, a new reserved customer waiting room, Red Cap Service, and a new, flagship premium Metropolitan Lounge, providing select travelers with a high-quality experience, including expanded food and beverage offerings.
  • Moynihan Train Hall and New York Penn Station will operate as one complex with Amtrak’s full-service offerings available in Moynihan Train Hall between 5:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m., (closed overnight between 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m.). New York Penn Station will remain accessible 24/7 as a self-service station, with minimal staff support and limited concourse operations between 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. when Moynihan is closed.
  • Tracks 5-16 can be accessed from the Moynihan Train Hall main concourse, as Tracks 1-4 will be available at New York Penn Station. Moynihan Train Hall will also serve the new Acela fleet, set to debut later this year.

The $1.6 billion project represents a public-private partnership between Empire State Development, Vornado Realty Trust, Related Companies, Skanska, the MTA/LIRR, Amtrak, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and was delivered via a design-build partnership.

Below is animated video of the new station.