Why is Penn Station called Moynihan?

In the early 1990s, U.S. senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan began championing a plan to rebuild a replica of the historic Penn Station, in which he had shined shoes during the Great Depression. He proposed rebuilding the station in the Farley Post Office building.



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Moynihan Train Hall houses the main Amtrak and Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) boarding concourse, while Penn Station houses the NJ TRANSIT concourse. The Moynihan Train Hall / New York Penn Station complex is readily accessible from more than a dozen lines of the New York City subway (MTA).

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The Penn Stations in New York City, Newark, New Jersey, and Baltimore are remnants of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company's network, says Travis Harry, director of museum operations at the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, a Smithsonian Affiliate.

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In January 2016, New York governor Cuomo announced plans for a combined Penn-Farley Post Office complex, a project estimated to cost $3 billion. SOM announced in a press release that it had decided to resume work on the train hall. At that time, the project was renamed Moynihan Train Hall.

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Pennsylvania Railroad executives searched for alternate means of income, and in 1961 they decided to dismantle their magnificent terminal and rent its air space. The three-year demolition of Penn Station began on October 28, 1963.

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Completed in 1910, the original Penn Station was intended to symbolize not only its powerful corporate owner but also New York's status as the most vital city in a nation that was becoming a political and economic superpower.

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At the same time, Madison Square Garden, a high-rise office and sports complex that still stands today, was built in its place. Though the Penn Station terminal was demolished, the original 1900s tunnels, tracks, platforms and electric traction continue to be used today.

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Moynihan Train Hall is the new home of Amtrak in New York City. Featuring state-of-the-art technologies and customer amenities, a spacious boarding concourse that bathes in sunlight from the 92-foot-high skylights, Moynihan Train Hall is a world-class station for a world class city.

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Many of the lines don't make any money or are operated at a loss. To accommodate the money-losing routes, Amtrak uses profits from its popular lines, such as the Northeast Corridor. Since this is one of the most popular routes, Amtrak can charge higher prices and send those profits to other, less profitable lines.

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Though the station is open twenty-four hours a day, it is not permitted to sleep on either the floor or the benches. This rule was introduced to prevent the city's homeless from settling in for the night, but it could easily be applied to transiting passengers late at night.

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Madison Square Garden is located right above Penn Station, steps from the Long Island Rail Road entrance between 31st and 33rd Streets on 7th Avenue.

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The Penn Station name extends from the fact that the old Pennsylvania Railroad built many of these stations back in the early 20th century. At that time, different railroad companies typically used different stations, especially in major cities or towns, so the station usually took the name of the company.

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Penn Station is between 33rd and 31st street and 7th and 8th avenues in Manhattan. Grand Central is at 42nd and Park. No, Pennsylvania Station is not the same thing as Grand Central Terminal.

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Though the Penn Station terminal was demolished, the original 1900s tunnels, tracks, platforms and electric traction continue to be used today. But the limits of that original infrastructure are tested daily.

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