Penn Station Handles More Than 13 Million Train Station Passengers
Penn Station remained the busiest train station in the Western Hemisphere in fiscal 2025, handling more than 13 million intercity passengers and well over half a million people on a typical weekday. The New York hub now operates with Moynihan Train Hall as one complex across Eighth Avenue, with 21 tracks fed by seven tunnels.
That volume makes Penn Station Amtrak’s single busiest stop. For riders moving through Midtown Manhattan, the station also serves Amtrak, the Long Island Rail Road, NJ Transit and several subway lines.
Penn Station And Moynihan Train Hall
The current complex grew out of a station with a different history. The grand 1910 Beaux-Arts station that once stood at Penn Station was demolished in 1963, and Moynihan Train Hall opened in 2021 inside the old James A. Farley Post Office. Its 92-foot glass skylight now sits across Eighth Avenue from the remaining Penn Station facilities.
The two halls now function together, which gives the station its modern footprint even though the name Penn Station still anchors the system. Riders entering the complex are using one of the country’s most heavily used rail nodes, not a single terminal built for one service.
Grand Central And Washington Union
Grand Central Terminal opened in 1913 and covers 48 acres with 44 platforms serving 67 tracks on two underground levels. Amtrak rerouted its trains to Penn Station in 1991, leaving Grand Central as a commuter station rather than an intercity stop. The Long Island Rail Road later arrived at Grand Central in 2023 through the Grand Central Madison terminal.
Washington Union Station, which opened in 1907 and was designed by Daniel Burnham, ranked second for Amtrak in fiscal year 2025 with about 6 million intercity passengers after Amtrak took over management in 2024. Philadelphia’s William H. Gray III 30th Street Station was third with more than 5.5 million intercity passengers.
Fiscal Year 2025 Rankings
The ranking shows how concentrated intercity rail remains in a few major stations. Penn Station’s more than 13 million intercity passengers put it far ahead of Washington Union Station and Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station, while the broad weekday crowd inside Penn also includes commuter traffic from multiple systems.
For travelers, the practical takeaway is simple: Penn Station is not just busy by New York standards. It is the main intercity rail gateway for the largest rail hub in the Western Hemisphere, and its shared operation with Moynihan Train Hall is now the way the complex handles that traffic.
