Inari sushi – sweetened deep fried tofu skin stuffed with rice dressed with rice vinegar, salt, and sugar. Photo by miwa_in_oz
There is one redeeming thing about the current New York Penn Station – it’s Penn Sushi. They have great inari sushi. I always stop in to see the very friendly staff and pick up sushi whenever I travel by train. As for the rail station, it’s a joke.
The large photographs of the original New York Penn Station posted around today’s Main Concourse just baffle me. One shows the original Main Concourse, with its steel and glass vaulted ceiling, the stairways down to the tracks portals to adventure. Another shows the entry hall off of Seventh Avenue. I wonder whose decision it was to place those photos there, and what were they thinking. Was the idea to undo the destruction, to remind people that they should consider themselves in a place of great architectural history – but so sorry we let it go? The demolition of Penn Station in 1963 was known at the time to be an irretrievable loss to the fabric of New York, and it paved the way for the preservation of Grand Central Terminal (which rail building would you have rather saved?). How long did it take for the modernism of the new train station to lose its sheen? Are those photographs supposed to make us feel better about our temporary rat-like existence in the current building bearing the name Penn Station?
RL Fifield 2012.
Penn or GCT I’m not really sure?
During the 60’s, the rail industry, and NYC itself, were in a freefall and the private railroads did not know if anyone would ride trains anymore. I guess PRR management probably thought this station would suffice. Fed up with traffic, and airport security, people are returning to the rails and ridership has now grown by leaps and bounds in the last 10 years and the station does not have the capacity to handle the crowd. Practically, Penn would have been the better one to save because it is far busier than Grand Central, and it serves long-distance travelers where GCT only serves commuters.
Looking back it would’ve been the best investment to save both. From a financial standpoint, it’s amazing how much money MTA gets from tenants like Apple at GCT. The same could’ve been true at Penn Station if they saved it. Stores would be willing to pay a ton in rent to get a part of the business of the 600,000 plus people that pass through there daily. By contrast the Garden does not make money, and the Dolan family does not even pay property taxes on it. Hopefully they get Moynihan Station open someday!
Here’s a thought – if the rebirth of GCT had happened before Amtrak moved out of there, do you think Amtrak would have left? Certainly the costs of running two NYC operations were somewhat cost prohibitive, but I wonder if it would have made a difference. I love that board in the back beyond track 37 (?), with all the long distance trains written up in chalk, frozen in time.
I talk up trains every chance I get – especially to friends to rent cars out of NYC. Trains are cheaper, more relaxing, and often faster if you are going anywhere in the NE Corridor. Now, how about high speed rail to Chicago? That would be awesome.
I know what board your talking about at GCT. It’s amazing how MTA has left some of these artifacts around the Terminal. I still think Amtrak would’ve left Grand Central even if it was restored back in 91 because of the cost of the operating two major city station facilities, and the fact that it’s easier to make connections from the Empire Corridor to the NEC at Penn rather than having to lug you bags through the subway or pay for a cab. It sure was easier when I went on family vacation to Colonial Williamsburg and we were able to ride Amtrak from Poughkeepsie to Penn Station and transfer to the NE Regional train to Williamsburg without having to drag our bags through the subway. By the way,taking the train there was amazing. No traffic, no hassle, and our official CW hotel picked us up at the station.
As for High Speed Rail to Chicago that would be awesome! I actually wrote a paper about Electric high speed rail on the Empire Corridor when I was in an undergrad economics class. I concluded a train operating on the NYC TO CHI route at an average speed of about 135MPH could make the 959Mile trip in about 7 hours, which is a lot faster than driving and in the ballpark with flying once you add security and getting to the airport. I would increase the frequency of Albany to NYC service to every 1/2 hour with one train originating in Albany operating to GCT per hour, and one train to Penn per hour from BUF. I guess I would run the Chicago train to GCT too because it would be nicer for long distance travelers. Plus if people wanted to go to Penn they could transfer at any of the intermediate stops along the way without having to climb and stairs.
I’ve heard 220MPH proposals for the NYC to CHI across Pennsylvania that could do it in around 5 hours.
If the Amtrak Next-Gen system were built I would propose offering another class of HSR service called Colonial Express. It would fall in between NE Regional and Acela and would be marketed at pleasure travelers as opposed to business travelers. If I were in charge of HSR expansion Colonial Express would operate over an expanded 220 MPH HSR line to Richmond Main St and offer 150MPH service to Newport News through Williamsburg, VA over the historic C and O line. I chose the name because, it was the name of a classic PRR service, and also the fact that the train operates through the historic Colonial and Early American cities of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC, Richmond, Williamsburg, and Newport News. Maybe I would even have costumed guides in 18th century clothing that would tell passengers about the history of line,tell them about things to see in each city, stories, and perhaps even play 18th century games with kids in the cafe car!
Super Express Trips time from NYC to these NEC cities would be like this on the Colonial Express
*NYC to BOS- 1hr 34min
*NYC to PHL- Market East- 37 Min
*NYC TO WAS- 1hr 34 min
*-Based on the Amtrak Next Gen NE Corridor plan.
NYC to RVM 2HR 39 MIN
NYC to WBG 3HR- 9 MIN
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Apologies about being a bit long winded. I love high-speed-rail, and I’m excited to talk about it at any opportunity. My dream job would be to work in the passenger rail busines. It’s about time the America joined the railvolution that’s spread around the globe.