Remaking Penn Station for Riders and the 22nd Century

Railroad stations around the country and around the world use through running to better serve passengers with easier, faster service and bolstered economic growth in the areas where it has been implemented. Through running means trains run from one side of the region to the other through a city center, rather than terminating at a traditional city terminal.

Yet the State plan for Manhattan’s Penn Station views it as a distant possibility. The State focuses on tweaks to the current station and on an expensive new underground station for New Jersey Transit that threatens to demolish blocks south of Penn leveling homes, local businesses and landmark quality historic buildings.

The New York Landmarks Conservancy is trying to stop the destruction of the area around Penn and believes an honest assessment of through running would help achieve that.

The Conservancy in partnership with The General Society of Mechanics & Tradesmen of the City of New York will host, “Remaking Penn Station for Riders and the 22nd Century,” a panel discussion with Samuel A. Turvey and Karim Ahmed, ReThink NYC; Christine Berhet, Manhattan Community Board 4’s Transportation Committee; and Dr. Robert Paaswell, Emeritus Director, City College’s University Transportation Research Center, Region II. The panel will be moderated by Peg Breen, President of The New York Landmarks Conservancy.

The panel will explain what through running would entail at Penn and point to successful examples in other cities.

This event will be presented online and in-person on Tuesday, May 21st, 6:30 pm at the General Society of Mechanics & Tradesmen of The City of New York, 20 West 44th Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues), in Manhattan.

Register for the in-person event here and the online event here.

Illustration of Penn Station redevelopment provided.