[mplanchard]

I did a trip to NYC and back on Amtrak at the end of November, and the boarding process at Moynihan was the same as it had always been, with tickets checked once you're on board. Didn't know it was different boarding from Penn.

[spokaneplumb]

Is boarding at Moynihan what another poster is alluding to with the possibility of avoiding the choke-point boarding by simply not using the main waiting area? Or is that considered a separate stop, possibly requiring a different ticket (and, worse still, maybe being bypassed by certain trains)?

I have minimal familiarity with NY and none with Penn, but will be Amtraking in and out in a couple weeks.

[anyonecancode]

I'm not sure about Amtrak boarding processes, but regarding Moynihan vs Penn:

- Penn Station is directly under Madison Square Garden. There used to be a large building similar in scale to Grand Central Terminal, but it was rather controversially torn down in the 60s [1], and MSG built on its site and the train station portion becoming a bunch of tunnels beneath it.

- Across the street from Penn was a big post office building, with a grand Neo-classical design. As an attempt to somewhat remedy the destruction of Penn decades earlier, NY state decided to turn that into a train hall, which opened in 2020 [2]. It's the same station stop as Penn, so you can really think of it more as just an expansion of it. Take the stairs on the western (toward the Hudson river) end of the platform and you'll emerge into a big open space with an atrium that looks like an actual train station, instead of the basement of MSG. (They've also been doing good work raising the ceiling and widening corridors in Penn, so there's more light and air, but you're still basically in the MSG basement even if it's less cramped now).

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Penn_Station#Original... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moynihan_Train_Hall

[spokaneplumb]

Thanks to you and your sibling poster, helpful info!

[mplanchard]

Yeah, they're connected, and both go down to the same tracks. At Moynihan you just go right down to the train, no separate ticket required.