34th Street – Penn Station

34th Street – Penn Station New York City Subway rapid transit station
Station statistics
Address	West 34th Street & 7th Avenue New York, NY 10001
Borough	Manhattan
Locale	Chelsea
Coordinates	40°45′04″N 73°59′28″W / 40.751°N 73.991°W / 40.751; -73.991Coordinates: 40°45′04″N 73°59′28″W / 40.751°N 73.991°W / 40.751; -73.991
Division	A (IRT)
Line	IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line
Services	1  (all times)      2  (all times)      3  (all except late nights)
Connection	New York City Bus: M4, M6, M7, M10, M16, M20, M34, Q32 Amtrak, LIRR, and NJ Transit at Penn Station
Structure	Underground
Platforms	1 island platform, 2 side platforms
Tracks	4
Other information
Opened	July 1, 1918
Accessible
Traffic
Passengers (2008)	28.344 million[1][2] ▲ 1.94%
Rank	5 out of 422
Station succession
Next north	Times Square – 42nd Street: 1  2  3
Next south	28th Street (local): 1  2  14th Street (express): 2  3
Next north	Times Square – 42nd Street: 1  2  3
Next south	Chambers Street: 1  2  3
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops in station at all times Stops all times except late nights Stops late nights only Stops late nights and weekends only Stops weekdays only Stops all times except rush hours in the peak direction Stops all times except weekdays Stops rush hours only Stops rush hours in the peak direction only Station is closed (Details about time periods)

34th Street – Penn Station is an express station on the IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of 34th Street and 7th Avenue, it is served by the 1 and 2 trains at all times, and the 3 train at all times except late nights. Connections are available to the LIRR, NJ Transit, and Amtrak in Pennsylvania Station and to PATH at 33rd Street and 6th Avenue.

History

34th Street – Penn Station on the IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line was opened on 1 July 1918 as part of an extension of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, the dominant subway in Manhattan at the time, from Times Square – 42nd Street to South Ferry.^[3] This meant that the subway would be expanded down the Lower West Side to neighborhoods such as Greenwich Village and the western portion of Lower Manhattan. As part of this and the northern IRT Lexington Avenue Line extension, the IRT network would be radically changed from an S-shaped line connecting the eastern side of Lower Manhattan to the Upper West Side to an H-shaped network with two parallel lines, the East and West Side Lines, and a shuttle at 42nd Street connecting them.^[3][4]

Station layout

Like 34th Street – Penn Station on the IND Eighth Avenue Line and Atlantic Avenue on the IRT Eastern Parkway Line, this station has side platforms for local service and an island platform for express service. This is due to the expected increase in ridership and to encourage riders to switch at the next stop northbound, Times Square – 42nd Street, as it is set up in the usual island platform manner for cross-platform interchanges.^[5]

There is no free transfer between this station and 34th Street – Penn Station (A C E) on the 8th Avenue Line, despite the fact that both connect to Penn Station. The nearest transfer location is at Times Square – 42nd Street with a free transfer to 42nd Street – Port Authority Bus Terminal.^[5]

Entrances and exits

34th Street – Penn Station spans three streets: 32nd, 33rd, and 34th Streets. For each of these streets there is a set of entrances and exits. For the purposes of this article, entrance and exit are interchangeable except when explicitly mentioned.

• 34th Street exits : There are four entrances directly from the intersection of 34th Street and 7th Avenue. On the local platforms the turnstiles for these exits are at platform level; passengers wishing to use the express platforms must use a passageway beneath the platforms and tracks. These entrances utilize the northern portions of the platforms. There is also a supplementary and handicapped-accessible entrance to the Penn Station complex in general from 34th Street.
• 33rd Street exits: There are three direct entrances from the street at 33rd Street and 7th Avenue. As a replacement for the southwestern corner's lack of an entrance, there is an underground entrance directly connecting the station with the Long Island Rail Road concourse in the Penn Station complex. The turnstiles for this entrance are located below the track level and utilize the central portions of the platforms. There are no turnstiles at platform level for these exits.
• 32nd Street exits:The main entrance to the Penn Station complex is located on the western end of 32nd Street. From there, passengers must go through the New Jersey Transit and Long Island Rail Road concourses and use the main entrance to the station at the end of the latter's concourse. There is also a smaller exit from the station and the southern ends of the platforms that connects with the end of the New Jersey Transit concourse where it meets the Long Island Rail Road underneath the main corridor in the station that connects New Jersey Transit and Amtrak. There is also an entrance on the north side of 32nd Street between 7th and 6th Avenues.

Ridership

34th Street – Penn Station on the Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line is continually ranked as one of the busiest stations in the subway system. In 2008, it was the fifth-busiest subway station with 28,343,889 riders as recorded by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.^[1] By comparison, its sister station on the 8th Avenue Line is ranked sixth-busiest, with 26.013 million passengers.^[1] When the Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line station was a shuttle stop before the rest of the South Ferry extension opened, ridership was quite low; in its first year of operation, only 78,121 boardings were recorded.^[6]

References

External links

• nycsubway.org — IRT West Side Line: 34th Street/Penn Station
• Station Reporter — 1 Train
• Station Reporter — 2 Train
• Station Reporter — 3 Train
• The Subway Nut — 34 Street – Penn Station (1, 2, 3, 9)
• MTA's Arts For Transit — 34th Street – Penn Station