New York governor Andrew Cuomo has unveiled a $3bn transformation of Penn Station, the busiest passenger transportation facility in North America.
The historic James A Farley Post Office Building will also be developed into a "world-class transportation hub".
The project, which will be known as the Empire Station Complex, will include improvements such as better amenities, greater natural light, increased train capacity and improved signage.
A public-private partnership will break ground on the project this year, with the bulk of construction to be completed in the next three years.
Solicitations to developers will be issued this week by New York State, which owns the Farley Post Office, and Amtrak, which owns Penn Station. Responses are due in 90 days.
The Penn Station redevelopment project will widen existing corridors, reconfigure ticketing and waiting areas and improve connectivity between the lower and street levels.
The new station will include Wi-Fi, modernized train information displays and streamlined ticketing.
The Farley Post Office will be redeveloped into a state-of-the-art train hall for Amtrak, with services for passengers of the Long Island Rail Road, New Jersey Transit and the new Air Train to LaGuardia Airport.
The train hall will be connected to Penn Station by an underground pedestrian concourse that will increase the station’s size by 50%.
At 210,000 square feet, the train hall will be roughly equivalent in size to the main room at New York’s Grand Central Terminal.
Governor Cuomo said: "Penn Station is the heart of New York’s economy and transportation network, but it has been outdated, overcrowded and unworthy of the Empire State for far too long.
"We want to build Penn Station to be better than it ever was, and that is exactly what we are going to do. This proposal will fundamentally transform Penn Station for the 21st century, and we are excited to move forward with the project in the days to come."
