New York City's Penn Station is a transit nightmare. It's dismally gray, confusing to navigate, and frequently smells like a mix of Auntie Anne's pretzels and body odor.
Traveling through Penn is a bit of a necessary evil that commuters just deal with. It's an incredibly busy transportation hub, where roughly 650,000 people and 1,200 trains pass through each day.
The train station will now get a much-needed makeover in a plan led by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. As part of the $3 billion project, the redesigned Penn Station will be called the "Empire Station Complex," due to be completed in 2019.
Here's what it will look like.
The Amtrak waiting area, currently on the first floor near the Eighth Avenue entrance, will be moved to the historic Farley Post Office across the street, Cuomo says.
The new train hall will connect to Penn Station via a tunnel and will increase the station's size by about 50%. That's roughly the size of the main room in Grand Central. This will likely free up space to renovate the New Jersey Transit and Long Island Rail Road concourses.
The plan also calls for wider corridors, upgraded ticket stations, working Wi-Fi, 30 new escalators, roomier trains, and larger windows for more natural light.
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