Penn Station Concourses To Close Overnight, Amtrak Says

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — Two train concourses at Midtown Manhattan's Penn Station will close to the public overnight in an effort to better clean and disinfect trains, Amtrak officials announced this week.

The Amtrak concourse, located on Eighth Avenue between West 31st and 33rd streets, will close at midnight and the NJ Transit Concourse, located on the corner of Seventh Avenue and West 31st Street, will close at 1 a.m., transit officials said. The station will reopen fully starting at 5 a.m., transit officials said.

Closing the concourses will allow for "daily deeper cleaning of the station and trains," an Amtrak spokesperson said in a statement. The train company owns and operates Penn Station, which serviced more than 600,000 riders per weekday before the new coronavirus pandemic caused ridership to plummet.

To keep up to date with coronavirus developments in NYC, sign up for Patch's news alerts and newsletter.

Trains between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. will still run, but only ticketed passengers will be allowed inside Penn Station, transit officials said.

Amtrak's decision to close Penn Station during early-morning hours mirrors the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's decision to cut overnight subway service in the city.

"This is going to be one of the most aggressive, creative, challenging endeavors the MTA has done," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said of the subway service cut. "It's not that easy to stop train service. "

Stations will close so that the MTA can clean and disinfect stations after reports of homeless people sleeping in subway cars spurred Cuomo to call the situation "disgusting."

Read Patch's full story of the subway closure.

Coronavirus In NYC: Latest Happenings And Guidance

Email PatchNYC@patch.com to reach a Patch reporter or fill out this anonymous form to share your coronavirus stories. All messages are confidential.