Major Upgrades Coming to Penn Station's Amtrak Departure Displays

CHELSEA, NY — A big upgrade is in store for the Amtrak waiting area at much-maligned Penn Station.

Amtrak told Patch they will be adding 13 gate boards with visual messaging, nine large departure boards with visual messaging and station announcements, four video walls with departure information and 10 medium-sized departure boards with visual messaging and new medium-sized arrival boards as well. In other words, there will be a whole lot of new video screens for a waiting area badly in need of a technological upgrade. Amtrak plans to complete the project before the end of 2016.

Once the installation of the new video screens are completed, the old Amtrak display board will be demolished.

"The idea is to improve the passenger experience through more dynamic, easier to read and strategically located information points throughout the concourse," a spokesman for Amtrak said in a statement to Patch.

Amtrak says they service about 10 million annual riders through Penn Station. The station itself has 600,000 total passengers passing through it each day, making it the busiest transportation hub in the country.

Photo Credit: Old Amtrak display board by Alan Turkus via Flickr/Creative Commons