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With summerlong track shutdowns and possible reroutes of Amtrak trains to Grand Central, the work to fix Penn Station is going to be anything but cheap and painless.
The transit hub has fallen into such a bad state of disrepair that Governor Cuomo is seeking federal aid to fix its deep-rooted infrastructure issues. On Sunday, he issued a letter to President Trump that calls for the federal government to "recognize the conditions at Penn Station as an emergency."
"As you know, the station is in deplorable condition and has been for years," the letter says. "However, the recent track breakdowns and mechanical problems have made the situation intolerable."
Amtrak, which owns the tracks at Penn, recently notified regional transit officials that emergency repairs at the station this summer could reduce service by roughly 20 percent. For the 600,000 passengers who travel through the station every day, that notice is nothing short of gut-wrenching.
The letter does not get into the specific amount that Cuomo is requesting, only that he is looking for funding for the "short-term Penn construction and transportation alternatives and facilitation of a long-term resolution for Penn Station."
An overhaul of Penn Station has been long overdue, but a pair of derailments followed by hellish delays earlier this spring brought its issues into the forefront of public conversation. Whether or not the Trump Administration okays the funding for the station's fix, it's going to take decades to bring Penn into the 21st century.
At least New Yorkers can rest assured that think tanks are drumming up long-term visions for fixing Penn—it's sort of the only shred of hope we have left at this point.