(The following article by Rudy Larini was posted on the Newark Star-Ledger website on April 13.)
NEWARK, N.J. — NJ Transit yesterday approved a project intended to provide relief for harried rail commuters into Manhattan’s bustling Penn Station.
The agency’s board of directors authorized preliminary design work for a new concourse to connect with a new train station planned for the West Side of Manhattan.
Moynihan Station, named for the late New York Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, is considered a critical component of the $6 billion Access to the Region’s Core project that will expand capacity of the New York Penn Station complex. A new rail crossing under the Hudson River, the Trans-Hudson Express Tunnel, is part of the venture.
Officials say the new concourse and Moynihan Station will relieve the daily grind of commuting by making it easier for NJ Transit passengers to move between street level and train platforms.
Penn Station and the new Moynihan facility, in the Farley Post Office building across Eighth Avenue, would connect to the same set of underground tracks and platforms. The rear of inbound NJ Transit trains would stop at the new station, while the front would load and unload at the existing one.
Amtrak and Long Island Rail Road trains also will use the facility, but NJ Transit would be the prime tenant.
By extending the platforms between Penn Station and the new station, railroad officials will provide riders with additional sets of stairs and escalators to reach street level.
The improved access would be crucial during rush hour, when crowds getting on and off trains routinely experience congestion as commuters try to make their way through a handful of access points.
By moving people from the platforms more quickly, NJ Transit would be able to run its trains more frequently through the busy station, officials said.
“Today’s board action advances a critical component of our overall plan to expand trans-Hudson capacity and improve the commute to Manhattan,” said NJ Transit Executive Director George D. Warrington. “The extended platforms offer more, better and faster vertical access to and from platforms and trains, and enable the operation of three to four more trains per hour when completed.”
The $5.3 million contract amendment for the concourse work was awarded to Transit Link Consultants, a joint venture of Parsons Brinckerhoff of Newark and Systra Consulting Inc. of Bloomfield.
The new concourse, platform extensions and related New York Penn Station capacity enhancements are expected to be completed by 2010. Work on the Trans-Hudson Express Tunnel is planned for 2009, with an anticipated completion in 2015.