New York's Grossest Bathrooms Just Got 'Refreshed'

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — Penn Station has plenty of problems. It's dark, it's crowded, it's complicated to navigate and trains are often delayed. But its bathrooms may have been the transit hub's most notorious element.

Penn Station's bathrooms have a signature stench and grime that any regular commuter never fully forgets. But there's some good news for the station's nearly 600,000 daily commuters. Amtrak, which owns and operates Penn Station, has completed its "refresh" of both the men's and women's bathrooms, the company announced Monday.

After more than three months of work, the new men's bathrooms debuted with durable terrazzo floors, contemporary wall tiles and updated fixtures such as automatic sinks, soap dispensers and hand dryers, Amtrak announced. A refresh of the women's bathrooms was completed in January.

The bathroom refresh, which was announced in September last year, is part of Amtrak's plan to completely revitalize Penn Station. At the time of the announcement, Amtrak's former CEO Wick Moorman told the New York Times that the upgrades would be done by the end of 2017. It turns out the facilities needed some extra time to be fully "refreshed."

Much of Amtrak's plan is dedicated to repairing and replacing the station's aging infrastructure. The transit company is set to launch a new round of fixes this summer which will focus on "critical reconstruction" of three of Penn Station's major rail assets: The Empire Tunnel, the Spuyten Duyvil Bridge and Penn Station's Track 19, Amtrak officials announced.

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