THE United States Department of Transportation (USDOT), together with Amtrak and Penn Transformation Partners (PTP), a joint venture led by Halmar and Skanska, has unveiled the designs for the redevelopment of New York’s Penn Station.

Produced by New York-based lead architect PAU, the designs reveal a safer, more spacious, and better-connected terminal, which PTP believes will elevate it to a modern civic landmark. Redevelopment work is expected start next year, with completion expected by 2034.

USDOT took control of Penn Station’s transformation in April 2025 and provided Amtrak with $US 43m in federal grant funding to jumpstart an accelerated schedule. Last month, PTP was selected as the master developer, and USDOT has invested an additional $US 200m to support further design and planning-related work.

The completed station, USDOT says, will transform the commuter and visitor experience with a design that reduces congestion, eliminates dead ends, improves visibility, and expands waiting areas evenly throughout the station.

Key outcomes of the redevelopment include:

  • construction of a grand entrance on Eighth Avenue to a new train hall
  • replacement of cramped, decrepit walkways with open, well-designed concourses
  • expansion of track capacity, including the introduction of at least limited through-running on the regional rail network
  • provision of new retail space, better wayfinding, and other passenger experience improvements, while updating Madison Square Garden with a new cladding for a classic look, and
  • improving the station’s existing subterranean structure.

“We named this project Penn Station Transformation for the exact reason depicted in these designs: a world-class, beautiful, and modern station is coming to New York City,” says special advisor to the Amtrak board, Andy Byford.

Major station

New York Penn Station is the busiest railway station in the Western Hemisphere and handled over 12 million Amtrak passengers in fiscal 2024, nearly 18% of total Amtrak and nearly 45% of Northeast Corridor ridership. The station accommodates over 1000 daily Amtrak, NJ Transit, and LIRR train movements on 21 tracks.

The Trump administration removed Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) from its role of leading the project in 2025, citing Amtrak’s ownership of the station as the reason for appointing the national passenger operator to lead the programme, a move it says will save taxpayers money.

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