Politics & Government

Seat-Free Moynihan Train Hall Needs Benches, Lawmakers Tell State

For more than a year, commuters have been forced to slump on the floor of the sparkling new rail hub. Officials say it's time for benches.

Midtown officials are pushing the state to install benches in Moynihan Train Hall, which continues to lack any public seating more than a year after it opened to the public.
Midtown officials are pushing the state to install benches in Moynihan Train Hall, which continues to lack any public seating more than a year after it opened to the public. (Courtesy of Inga Saffron)

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — More than a year after it opened to commuters, Moynihan Train Hall continues to lack a feature found at rail stations around the world: a place to sit.

Aside from a roped-off, 320-seat waiting area for ticketed Amtrak passengers, the cavernous concourse in the old Farley Post Office building remains free of any benches, forcing people to slump down on the floor — a spectacle that reached new heights during last fall's holiday rush.

Now, a group of elected officials whose districts include Moynihan have penned a letter to the CEOs of Amtrak and the MTA, calling the lack of seating an inconvenience — as well as a serious accessibility issue.

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"During the holidays, hundreds of passengers were seen sitting on the floor, while scores of others roamed the station looking for places to sit," reads the letter, whose co-signers include Rep. Jerry Nadler, State Sen. Brad Hoylman, Councilmember Erik Bottcher and Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine.

Patch first reported on the seat-free station last summer, after Philadelphia Inquirer architecture critic Inga Saffron ridiculed the "jaw-dropping" sight of dozens of riders splayed on the ground. At the time, Empire State Development — the state entity that built Moynihan — told Patch that more seating would arrive as construction progressed, but the issue has persisted even as the train hall has inaugurated a new bar and restaurants.

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Passengers sit on the floor at Moynihan Train Hall in July 2021. (Courtesy of Inga Saffron)

"The small waiting area for ticketed passengers is not enough to meet the demand," the lawmakers wrote. "We need seats in the main hall where most passengers wait for their train."

In their letter, the officials nod to a widely-held suspicion: that benches were omitted in order to prevent homeless New Yorkers from sleeping there. (Indeed, several homeless people told THE CITY last year that they felt unwelcome in the train hall, which is also closed overnight.)

"This is a valid issue that should be addressed with services and outreach, instead of an exclusionary design plan that punishes transit users," the lawmakers wrote.

Reached for comment, MTA spokesperson John McCarthy told Patch: "We agree that Moynihan Train Hall is a spectacular terminal designed with seating for ticketed passengers and we will continue to work with Amtrak, MTH’s primary occupant, to review the facility’s future needs for space."

Amtrak declined to comment, while Empire State Development, which built Moynihan, did not immediately issue a statement.

When it opened at the end of 2020, then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo touted Moynihan as an expansion of cramped Penn Station. Critics have noted, however, that Moynihan does nothing to expand Penn's rail capacity and includes no space for subway passengers, who make up a majority of the hub's 650,000 daily riders.

Moynihan, however, is only one part of the state's long-term plan to remake Penn Station. The state has advanced separate plans to add six tracks to the complex by acquiring and demolishing a nearby city block, and the MTA in April unveiled twin proposals for large new concourses atop the current station.

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