Explore the Penn Station’s New Seventh Avenue and 32nd Street Entrance!

Now it will be much easier for travelers to get into Penn Station. After being fixed up by Amtrak and Vornado Realty Trust, the main entrance to the transit hub at 7th Avenue and 32nd Street reopened on Sunday. There is now a 50 percent wider entrance, a new lift, two new stairs, and a new glass canopy designed by Norman Foster’s Foster + Partners that takes the place of the old concrete overhang.

The passageway is now fully accessible to people with disabilities. There is an ADA-compliant elevator at the new entrance, which makes the station fully accessible and easy for people with heavy bags. There are also three new transit-grade elevators, up from two at the old entrance.

This makes it easier for people to get into the station. The concrete overhang over the old door from 1967 has been replaced with a new glass canopy by Foster + Partners that lets natural light into the station below. Vornado created a new LED lighting installation that goes above the canopy and gives “an opportunity for art.”

Nigel Dancey, head of studio at Foster + Partners, said, “We have been master-planning, studying, and improving New York City’s public realm with Vornado to make it a more inclusive and dynamic urban experience.” As part of a larger plan to improve the quality of the spaces between buildings and make the busiest transportation hub in North America more friendly for everyone, this project is an important first step.

Vornado and the city’s Department of Transportation are working together to make the paths on the west side of Seventh Avenue between West 31st and 33rd Streets wider so that the area is less crowded and easier to get around. With the new, big signs, the door is easier to see from Park Avenue, making it one of the main entrances to the station.

Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner said, “We are proud to roll out the welcome mat to our new, modern entrance for the 600,000 people who visit New York Penn Station every day.” “All customers will have a better experience now that there is a direct, accessible entrance at 32nd and 7th. They can take an elevator, walk down wider stairs, and use the new third escalator to get in or out of the station.”

Along with its investment in Moynihan Train Hall, Amtrak has spent more than $300 million on capital changes in and around Penn Station over the last five years. Amtrak spent more than $114 million on its ADA Stations Program during fiscal year 2023. This program has already made 118 stations in the US totally accessible and another 65 stations partially accessible.