RethinkNYC, Sam Turvey, April 29, 2024

New York State Senator Leroy Comrie supports converting commuter rail operations to through-running at Penn Station as proposed by ReThinkNYC and others. The through-running operating model will bring connectivity to the counties outlying New York City in much the same way the subway system stitched together the outer boroughs. Through-running would expand the region’s core by unifying our commuter rail lines and deflect the pressures of real estate developers to replace whole neighborhoods with monolithic supertalls. It would vastly improve desperately needed vertical circulation at Penn Station via safer, wider platforms. ReThinkNYC’s proposal supports a through-running conversion that can be accomplished within the footprint of the existing Penn Station and requires no demolition south of today’s Penn Station.