Penn Station renovations: $72 million federal grant on way, Sen. Schumer's office says 

A $72 million federal grant will kick-start major improvements to Penn Station, including a new connection to another Manhattan transit hub, Sen. Chuck Schumer’s office said Tuesday.

The first award from the Federal Railroad Administration will go toward design and early engineering work for several planned upgrades to Penn Station, including the construction of an underground walkway linking to the Herald Square transit station on Broadway and Sixth Avenue, which hosts eight different subway lines and the Port Authority’s PATH train service.

Officials with Schumer's office said the federal grant, finalized Tuesday, also will fund 18 new escalators and 11 elevators leading to track platforms; eight new entrances to the station; a 30,000-square-foot aboveground public plaza; and new passenger amenities, including retail. Other upgrades aim to make it easier to navigate the 114-year-old station.

“We need to ensure more accessibility, including making it easier to navigate — a redesign that delivers for commuters from Long Island, the five boroughs and beyond,” Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement Tuesday. “Renovating the overcrowded, cramped and confusing Penn Station will help usher New York, the LIRR and the region into an even brighter transit future.” 

Schumer’s office said that under terms of the grant, New York, New Jersey and Amtrak, the latter which owns Penn Station, will split another $24 million in matching funds.

Spokespeople for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Amtrak declined to comment. NJ Transit officials and Gov. Kathy Hochul's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The planned upgrades aim to get off the ground a larger $7 billion reconstruction of Penn Station that Hochul and the MTA have proposed but has not been funded. That effort would look to dramatically increase space inside the station, including, potentially, by removing parts of Madison Square Garden above it.

Amtrak is also pushing a plan to expand Penn Station, potentially by acquiring the block south of it and building new tracks underground.

Although New York transit advocates have raised concerns about transit funding drying up under the administration of President-elect Donald Trump, Hochul last week said she spoke with Trump and that he agreed that improving Penn Station was an “important” priority. While Schumer is the Senate majority leader now, Republicans will take back control of the chamber in January after their election wins.

Samuel Turvey, chairperson of ReThinkNYC, a nonprofit organization that has opposed some of the planned improvements at Penn, said he was not discouraged by the advancement of the “less-than-stellar” plans.

Turvey and other advocates have pushed for restoring Penn Station to its original early 20th century architecture and increasing track capacity with a “through-running” strategy that would make Penn less of a train terminal and more of a stop along the way.

“There remains room for better solutions, and I remain optimistic that some of that could happen,” Turvey said Tuesday.

By Alfonso A. Castillo

alfonso.castillo@newsday.com@alfonsoreports

Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.