Blumie

Look, I'm not arguing about whether the subways are or not well located relative to the new station, all I'm saying that the new station is directly across the street from the old station. (And while my 30-second estimate may be hyperbolically low, I'm guessing it's a lot closer than your 5-minute estimate. Of course it depends how long one has to wait for the light at 8th Avenue. )

For pizza on the 8th Avenue side, I highly recommend Pizza Suprema, at 8th Avenue and 31st St.

http://nypizzasuprema.com/

wxguy

One does not need to cross 8th Avenue. At the northeast corner of Moynahan is an escalator down to the NYP west side concourse. At the bottom of the escalator, turn left, go past track 21, turn right. Go down the ramp, past the 8th Avenue subway (A/C/E), then up the ramp into the NYP 33rd street concourse, which leads to the IRT (1/2/3). It's all done out of the elements.

Long Train Runnin

Second the recommendation wherever you are in Penn Station if you 30 minutes and want a slice of pizza its worth leaving the station to grab a slice here.

bennos

Or just walk down any track between 5 and 16. There's a pretty good diagram of the track locations here. It hasn't been updated for Moynihan, but platform access from the new hall is just to the left of the West End Concourse elevators.

truncated

Took the Acela from BOS to NYP this weekend and detoured to check out the new train hall — agree that it's way more pleasant than what it's replacing, but its location is still fairly impractical (especially for anyone coming from / going to the 1/2/3). Some pictures below:





Also oddly enough my train arrived (early) on Track 21 and so everyone ended up exiting back into the old concourse, and when I checked the Amtrak displays it was showing the train (to WAS) as delayed with no track number (and looks like it eventually left 20 min late), so was wondering if the train had to switch tracks as well (especially since there are no signs in the new train hall to 17 - 21) — the NEC twitter said "dispatching delay"

hi55us

Track 21 would be a Long Island RR Track that doesn't continue on to Washington, that's a pretty big mistake, I've traveled for years from BOS-NYP and that has never happened.

wxguy

There's one trip each way that's BOS-NYP (2173), NYP-BOS (2166) so thru to WAS is not an issue. But I'm surprised there's catenary over Track 21 -- I would have thought it's third rail only for LIRR.

truncated

Ah this was 2251 continuing to WAS so it was definitely an issue — I do wonder how they eventually reversed the train and switched platforms. No clue as to the catenary question but I guess if the Acela managed to make it onto the track there must be catenary over 21 (and presumably 20 as well) — maybe it was added for when Metro-North eventually arrives at NYP?

wxguy

Welp, you're right. I just talked to a friend who is a locomotive engineer supervisor for LIRR, and he confirms there's wire over 1-21 (and has been for a long time -- has nothing to do with MNRR eventually going there). 750V third rail is on 5-21 only. As you noted, since 21 goes to the West Side Yard, the train would have had to reverse back into the tube and replatform to go to WAS.

AndyPatterson

Both the NY Times and the Wall St J have well-written and lavishly illustrated articles in today's print editions -- also online, but probably behind a paywall (I would provide a link, but that may only work for my accounts).

The NYT does note that the Moynihan only solves part of a problem -- the Gateway project (Hudson River tunnels) remains to be done, as does improvements for NJ Transit, such as a new "Penn South." Interesting proposal to demolish the Amtrak mezzanine in the old station and thus raise the low ceiling on the lower level to make LIRR a real open train station.

The WSJ notes, as have previous postings here, the difficulty of actually getting from one station to the other without going outside. "I ... began searching for the passage to the Moynihan Train Hall [from Penn Station]. As it happens, there is none; trains can move in a straight line between the two buildings but you cannot. It takes some time to find the meek arrow that sends you outside where you must make your way across Eighth Avenue. In fact, one can get there without going outside, by negotiating the concourse of the Long Island Rail Road, although the path is so labyrinthine that you are as likely to find the Minotaur as Moynihan Hall."

WSJ continues, "Moynihan Hall is not organically integrated within the tangled knot of the lines of Amtrak, the LIRR, and NJ Transit, a formless and piecemeal accretion a century in the making. Until it is (which seems far in the future, despite countless visionary proposals), the hall will remain an orphan."

I recommend reading both articles, as they are a useful reminder of the need for intermodality, or the ability to readily transfer from one transportation mode to another. Moynihan, it seems, is good for pedestrians or people coming by taxi or Uber, but less good for people using other means of transportation (subway, commuter train) to travel to/from the train station. And, no, walking down a long platform to exit in the old Penn Station is not a solution as it means that one is not even using Moynihan, which sort of defeats the purpose of building it. Despite these limitations, once the 3-day quarantine lifts in NY, I look forward to exploring Moynihan!

physioprof

These are all great points regarding utility of Moynihan as an efficient transit hub. What I am hopeful for is that it will become a desirable eating/drinking/shopping/socializing/meeting destination that is reasonably convenient to reach via foot, surface vehicle, subway, Amtrak, LIRR, NJT, and eventually MNR. It is a truly beautiful space.

WeekendTraveler

The Metropolitan Lounge on the second floor on the south end of the building is beautiful--certainly as good as any airport lounge. Moynihan is also very nice. When I boarded a train at Moynihan, there was no "line up and wait" nonsense, either; passengers just went down the escalator to the track, without having to pointlessly wait in a line. A+, Amtrak!

stimpy

Here is a cool fly through simulator for Monyihan.



And a nice piece on CBS...

physioprof

It really is so gorgeous!!! Historically, I have mixed & matched taking Amtrak or Metro North between NYC and New Haven several times per week. Once I get back to regular travel, having this station instead of Penn Station is going to definitely skew my pattern towards Amtrak!

musicalbox

I visited today. It's really beautiful, the sort of train station NY should have. You really can't help but stand there and absorb it, it's stunning and such a change. The Metropolitan Lounge was, as reported, like an airline lounge although hard to truly compare with no food. Speaking of, I brought in a bag of purchased food from Penn Station and none of the reps said a thing, not even Angry Rep. Maybe because I had no open beverage?

I had a lot of time today before my train so could check it out but I don't know that I'll do it often, not even because once my work returns in earnest I'll have too little time to make the trek but really because without the early downstairs boarding you arrive on the front end of the train at the same time people who have waited at the main Penn Station are descending at the other end, whether it's from upstairs or downstairs I don't know. But I could see the quiet car filling up as I had to walk the entire length of the train to get there. Not something I'll do again, I don't think. We'll see if the food hall ends up with any really great places because that might tempt me back if I can swing it.