Rail Service Improvements
Underway Across New York
News from the New York State Department of Transportation
A
s you travel New York State in the comfort of an Amtrak
train, you’ll see signs of construction along the route—work
that is improving passenger rail service under the most
significant modernization program in a generation. With
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s leadership and Amtrak’s
help, New York’s Empire and Northeast Corridors are
being upgraded.
The work—more than $942 million in passenger rail improvements—
will shorten trip times, reduce delays and make train travel more reliable,
comfortable and accessible.
“Transportation is a priority for Governor Cuomo, and he fought for
federal funding that is improving passenger rail service, creating jobs
and supporting economic growth,” New York State Department of
Transportation Commissioner Matthew J. Driscoll said. “From Manhattan
to Albany and Niagara Falls, these projects are reducing congestion and
enhancing reliability for both passenger and freight travel.”
Since 2009, more than a dozen projects have won federal funding.
Rail stations, platforms, tracks and signal systems are being rebuilt,
replaced, and modernized. All the projects are scheduled for
completion by 2019 or sooner.
NEW TRAIN STATIONS BEING BUILT
Construction progress continues on four new passenger rail stations in
Manhattan, Schenectady, Rochester, and Niagara Falls. Upgrades to a
fifth—the Buffalo-Depew Station—were completed in December 2012.
Moynihan Station
The Moynihan Station project will turn Manhattan’s landmark Farley U.S.
Post Office building into a monumental train hall, while preserving the
building’s historic exterior. Amtrak passengers boarding at the new,
sky-lit Moynihan Station will have better access to trains, buses, taxis
and bike share services.
The $300 million first phase of construction is scheduled for
completion in the fall of 2016 with the opening of the lower Moynihan
Station concourse. It will give Long Island Railroad, NJ Transit and
Amtrak passengers new access to the west ends of Penn Station’s
platforms—via additional stairways, elevators and escalators—and new
entrances to Penn Station on the west side of Eighth Avenue through
Deep excavation occurs at the site of the new Rochester
Intermodal Station. A concourse tunnel is being built to
access a new two-sided, high-level passenger platform.
the Farley Post Office Building. An underground passageway will
connect the new concourse to the 8th Avenue subway station and the
Penn Station concourses east of 8th Avenue.
Schenectady Station
The New York State Department of Transportation and Amtrak kicked
off construction last year on a $13.5 million railroad station in Schenectady.
The project—scheduled for completion in 2018—includes a new station
building, tracks and platforms, as well as improved parking, lighting,
landscaping and walkways leading to a bus station on State Street.
A passenger train pulls into the station in Rensselaer where
NYSDOT is installing a fourth track that will make service faster
and more reliable for the many customers who use it.
20 | New York By Rail
Significant progress is being made on the construction of a $30 million
Rochester Station, which is scheduled for completion in late 2017. The
1970s station was demol