Phase One of NY Penn Station Upgrade Begins This Summer

It's been a long time coming, but the Moynihan train station construction project's first phase will be getting underway this summer.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced Tuesday the $270 million first phase of the project that includes expanded concourses and extra entryways on the western end of the station. The adjacent James Farley post office will also become a new passenger facility.

The new terminal will be named after late U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who championed the project beginning in the 1990s.

Port Authority executive director Patrick Foye says NJ TRANSIT riders who now have to walk nearly two crosstown blocks underground will be able to get into the station or above ground quicker.

“It’s going to involve doubling the length and width of the concourse,” Foye told WCBS 880′s Peter Haskell.

The second phase will turn the basement of the post office into Amtrak’s new terminal.

The project attempts to recreate the original Penn Station's grand rail entrance to New York City, which was demolished to make way for the current incarnation of Madison Square Garden. The work involves creating new concourses, two new entry points on the west side of Penn Station, and should be completed by 2016.

Phase 2 would involve rehabilitating the post office building and build new retail and commercial spaces within the post office building. No funding has been identified for the second phase.