Moynihan Train Hall

[MARC Rider]

My Acela was about 5 minutes late into NYP. But here I am in the new Metropolitan Lounge at the Moynihan Train Hall. Nicest lounge in the entire Amtrak system.

Pro tip: Moynihan Train Hall is accessed at the westernmost end of the platform. I was in the last car, and I had to walk back quite a way to the correct escalator. If you're not careful, you'll find yourself in the old Penn Station.






More to come when I get home.

 

[Bonser]

My Acela was about 5 minutes late into NYP. But here I am in the new Metropolitan Lounge at the Moynihan Train Hall. Nicest lounge in the entire Amtrak system.

Pro tip: Moynihan Train Hall is accessed at the westernmost end of the platform. I was in the last car, and I had to walk back quite a way to the correct escalator. If you're not careful, you'll find yourself in the old Penn Station.

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More to come when I get home.

It's beautiful but having the stairs empty in the middle of the hall instead of the sides will cause havoc when ridership increases. I've been there and I love it except for this one notable flaw.

 

[MARC Rider]

I'm back at the Met lounge waiting for my 6 pm Acela home. One thing I noticed about the lounge was a paucity of charging ports. They have an electrical outlet and a USB port as part of the lamps on the end tables next to the sofas, but I can't seem to find more.

 

[MARC Rider]

I partially take back my last post. there are more outlets, but some of them are located in hard to notice and hard to teach places.

 

[joelkfla]

Did you get food in the lounge? How was it?

 

[Bob Dylan]

My Acela was about 5 minutes late into NYP. But here I am in the new Metropolitan Lounge at the Moynihan Train Hall. Nicest lounge in the entire Amtrak system.

Pro tip: Moynihan Train Hall is accessed at the westernmost end of the platform. I was in the last car, and I had to walk back quite a way to the correct escalator. If you're not careful, you'll find yourself in the old Penn Station.

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More to come when I get home.

Do they not have good signage yet?

And are Redcaps readily available for we "First Timers" so we dont get lost like the Maze in NYP?

 

[MARC Rider]

Do they not have good signage yet?

And are Redcaps readily available for we "First Timers" so we dont get lost like the Maze in NYP?

There was waymarking, but it was on the platform, so you had to look down. In any event, most people aren't going to want to walk to the far end of the train, so I expect that a lot of people are still just going up into the old Penn Station, which is still there, and, for some reason, seems cleaner and more orderly than the last time I was there.

You can get to the Moynihan Train Hall from the old Penn Station without having to go up and out and cross 8th Ave., but that involves going down to the LIRR level (where they're doing all kinds of construction work) walking past the entrance to the 8th Ave. Subway (A,C, and E trains), and going around the corner to the West Side Concourse. From there. escalators take you right up into the new train hall.

 

[Bob Dylan]

There was waymarking, but it was on the platform, so you had to look down. In any event, most people aren't going to want to walk to the far end of the train, so I expect that a lot of people are still just going up into the old Penn Station, which is still there, and, for some reason, seems cleaner and more orderly than the last time I was there.

You can get to the Moynihan Train Hall from the old Penn Station without having to go up and out and cross 8th Ave., but that involves going down to the LIRR level (where they're doing all kinds of construction work) walking past the entrance to the 8th Ave. Subway (A,C, and E trains), and going around the corner to the West Side Concourse. From there. escalators take you right up into the new train hall.

Thanks Joe! Looking forward to " The Rest of the Story!"

 

[NEPATrainTraveler]

There was waymarking, but it was on the platform, so you had to look down. In any event, most people aren't going to want to walk to the far end of the train, so I expect that a lot of people are still just going up into the old Penn Station, which is still there, and, for some reason, seems cleaner and more orderly than the last time I was there.

You can get to the Moynihan Train Hall from the old Penn Station without having to go up and out and cross 8th Ave., but that involves going down to the LIRR level (where they're doing all kinds of construction work) walking past the entrance to the 8th Ave. Subway (A,C, and E trains), and going around the corner to the West Side Concourse. From there. escalators take you right up into the new train hall.

This is good to know. Thanks! I was wondering if it was possible to get to Moynihan Train Hall from old Penn Station. Good to know about the waymarking too. I'll have to remember this for the next time I'm in NYP.

 

[MARC Rider]

OK, a couple more things about the Metropolitan Lounge. First, when you check in , they make you fill out a little slip with your name, address and phone number for COVID contact tracing. Then you use a self-service scan for a quick body temperature check.

Second, with respect to the placement of electrical outlets, here are some examples:









So your choice is either sitting next to a side table with a lamp on the outside terrace, crawling around on the floor to find the outlets under the seats and tables, sitting at the communal desk, or finding one of the comfy armchairs facing 31st. St. They actually have outlets for charging your phones, you just have to look for them.

 

[MARC Rider]

For those of you who can't get into the Metropolitan Lounge, here's part of the Ticketed Passenger Waiting Area:





Oh, and they have restrooms even for people who don't have tickets. They're kind of tucked away back toward 9th Ave. around where the food court is going to be.

 

[MARC Rider]

One more thing about the Met Lounge:



They have a bank of storage lockers (no locks) where you can stash your luggage. Behind this is a little TV lounge that has CNN blaring away. It's very nice. Those who really insist on watching CNN can have their fix, while the place is isolated form the main lounge so that the rest of us don't have to listen to it.

 

[MARC Rider]

Did you get food in the lounge? How was it?

See my trip report. If you're taking coach or business class, you could build a nice little meal that would be healthier than what they sell in the cafe car.

 

[DoB]

You can get to the Moynihan Train Hall from the old Penn Station without having to go up and out and cross 8th Ave., but that involves going down to the LIRR level (where they're doing all kinds of construction work) walking past the entrance to the 8th Ave. Subway (A,C, and E trains), and going around the corner to the West Side Concourse. From there. escalators take you right up into the new train hall.

Or, go down to any of the tracks (except 1-4) and walk west to the Moynihan escalator.

 

[Bob Dylan]

For those of you who can't get into the Metropolitan Lounge, here's part of the Ticketed Passenger Waiting Area:



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Oh, and they have restrooms even for people who don't have tickets. They're kind of tucked away back toward 9th Ave. around where the food court is going to be.

I see a disaster coming if they let the public in to use the Rest Rooms, unless there will be attendants.

Remember the really bad ones @ NYP when people actually lived in them.( LAX has cleaned up their act too, they used to be a Zoo).

 

[PVD]

Having restrooms in an area where there will be a food court is pretty much a given. As far as I know, these are separate from the ones in the lounge. The public restrooms on the old side of the station are kept fairly well under control. Much better than years ago.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

For those of you who can't get into the Metropolitan Lounge, here's part of the Ticketed Passenger Waiting Area:



View attachment 21750

Oh, and they have restrooms even for people who don't have tickets. They're kind of tucked away back toward 9th Ave. around where the food court is going to be.

I love the look and style - the wooden benches look both modern and vintage train station at the same time. Very well done. Denver Union Station managed to do the same thing.

 

[jis]

I see a disaster coming if they let the public in to use the Rest Rooms, unless there will be attendants.

If the current public restrooms in the old station (at least the Amtrak and LIRR) sections are any indication, there should be no disaster at all.

It takes the special sort of incompetence practiced by NJT in its section to start approaching disaster. But then with the ostentatious departure of Chris Christie from NJ Governorship, things have improved quite a bit even at NJT and its Penn Station restroom.

 

[adamj023]

I’ve seen walk through videos of Penn Station from the old to new sections. The area is still under a huge amount of construction. West end concourse even had contractors doing work. I thought this section was completed so I don’t know if they were still doing finishing work or were replacing defective parts. My past experiences were not good and the station was definitely in need of work which has been going on for a very long time. Amtrak and commuter rail is definitely superior to bus based transportation which is where the focus should be.

 

[Mailliw]

Are there restrooms in the ticketed waiting areas? In any event Moynihan closes from 1am to 5am for cleaning so nobody is going to be able to live there.

 

[jiml]

OK, a couple more things about the Metropolitan Lounge. First, when you check in , they make you fill out a little slip with your name, address and phone number for COVID contact tracing. Then you use a self-service scan for a quick body temperature check.

Second, with respect to the placement of electrical outlets, here are some examples:

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So your choice is either sitting next to a side table with a lamp on the outside terrace, crawling around on the floor to find the outlets under the seats and tables, sitting at the communal desk, or finding one of the comfy armchairs facing 31st. St. They actually have outlets for charging your phones, you just have to look for them.

Looks pretty much like most current airline lounges. That's a good thing.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

I like how they captured the structural elements of the original Pennsylvania Station with the girder work.

 

[MARC Rider]

I see a disaster coming if they let the public in to use the Rest Rooms, unless there will be attendants.

Remember the really bad ones @ NYP when people actually lived in them.( LAX has cleaned up their act too, they used to be a Zoo).

Over the past 3 or 4 years, I've been pleasantly impressed with the condition of the public restrooms at Penn Station when I've had to use them.

 

[adamj023]

Over the past 3 or 4 years, I've been pleasantly impressed with the condition of the public restrooms at Penn Station when I've had to use them.

One of the Amtrak‘s bathroom in old section was modernized. And the Moynihan station is obviously new. The bathrooms at the old Penn Station were being used by homeless and were quite disgusting. I heard they were being used to do illegal drugs at times. I don’t know if they have redone them yet. I am more than sure a bathroom renovation will be done along with the modernization project, but I doubt they have started and/or completed it yet.

 

[PVD]

The bathrooms were bad for a while some years ago, and they were redone in an utilitarian but effective design. Having the police desk moved to that side right in front of them didn't hurt. They weren't pretty, but they were no longer that bad, and were kept fairly clean especially considering the volume of usage.