Penn Station Rebuild Should Begin During Ridership Plunge: Cuomo

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — A long-planned proposal to rebuild Penn Station and a host of other infrastructure projects around New York state should be expedited as usage is reduced due to the coronavirus, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday.

The state's plan to turn Penn Station into the "Empire Station Complex" would improve conditions at the Midtown transit hub, expand the station's capacity by about 40 percent and reduce congestion for the station's nearly 650,000 daily riders (before the outbreak of coronavirus). The idea was originally revealed by Cuomo in 2016 and then re-revealed in January of this year.

"We have the Empire Station project, which is building a new Penn Station, which is long overdue. That Penn Station has been torturing people for too long. Let's now accelerate the Empire, Penn project while the ridership is low and when we need the jobs," Cuomo said Tuesday.

Social distancing measures have resulted in drastic decreases in ridership for the commuter rail lines and subways that Penn Station services. The MTA slashed service on the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad back in March after the railways saw drops of 71 percent and 91 percent respectively.

Cuomo said Tuesday that he will travel to Washington D.C. to discuss his infrastructure ideas with President Donald Trump this week. Other projects identified by Cuomo for an early start are the expansion of the Second Avenue Subway to East Harlem and the LaGuardia Airport AirTrain.

Read Patch's full coverage of Cuomo's Tuesday press conference here.

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.