For DC and NY, Efforts to Improve Rail Stations Take Opposite Tracks

While the decades long effort to augment and improve New York's atrocious Penn Station have stalled, D.C. is moving ahead with plans to expand Union Station and redevelop the land above its tracks. Fred A. Bernstein looks at the two projects.

2 minute read

September 18, 2012, 10:00 AM PDT

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj


First the good news: with the purchase of the air rights over Union Station's train yard by developer Akridge, a project to build a 3 million
square-foot mixed use development and build "a vast new, glass-roofed train shed" adjacent to the elegant Daniel Burnham-designed station seem set to proceed. 

A 3-hour Acela train ride to the north, "plans for replacing New York's Penn Station, the famously disgraceful
hole under Madison Square Garden, with a more respectable facility in
the Farley Post Office building on the West Side of Eighth Avenue-first
proposed by Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan in 1993-are in limbo," writes Bernstein.

While there is a modicum of good news at Penn Station, where a $148 million contract
has been awarded to "create street entrances to an
existing concourse under the steps of the post office... the station itself, once designed by David Childs
of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill with a luminous ticketing hall in the
courtyard of the old post office building, is still on hold." 

"But even moving Amtrak's operations to a new Moynihan Station wouldn't
help 90 percent of the commuters who use Penn Station every day," notes Bernstein. "The
only way to create a new train station on that site would be to move the
Garden-and right now, the Dolan family, owners of the arena, are happy
where they are...Meanwhile, the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority (yet another stakeholder) has hired the Los
Angeles office of AECOM to undertake a $7.7 million study of ways of
making the existing Pennsylvania Station less ghastly-called Penn
Station Vision-a strong sign that the station won't be replaced anytime
soon."

Wednesday, September 12, 2012 in Architectural Record

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Cover CM Credits, Earn Certificates, Push Your Career Forward

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

July 9, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Green vintage Chicago streetcar from the 1940s parked at the Illinois Railroad Museum in 1988.

Chicago’s Ghost Rails

Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.

July 13, 2025 - WTTV

Aerial view of downtown San Antonio, Texas at night with rotating Tower of the Americas in foreground.

San Antonio and Austin are Fusing Into one Massive Megaregion

The region spanning the two central Texas cities is growing fast, posing challenges for local infrastructure and water supplies.

July 3, 2025 - Governing

White park shuttles with large Zion logo on side and red rock cliffs in background in Zion National Park.

Since Zion's Shuttles Went Electric “The Smog is Gone”

Visitors to Zion National Park can enjoy the canyon via the nation’s first fully electric park shuttle system.

7 hours ago - Reasons to Be Cheerful

Chart of federal transportation funding comparing Biden and Trump administration spending.

Trump Distributing DOT Safety Funds at 1/10 Rate of Biden

Funds for Safe Streets and other transportation safety and equity programs are being held up by administrative reviews and conflicts with the Trump administration’s priorities.

July 15 - Transportation for America

Close-up on yellow and black TAXI sign on top of beige car in central Munich, Germany.

German Cities Subsidize Taxis for Women Amid Wave of Violence

Free or low-cost taxi rides can help women navigate cities more safely, but critics say the programs don't address the root causes of violence against women.

July 15 - Bloomberg