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Mismanagement could delay Penn Station’s $1.6B expansion into Farley Post Office to 2021, says Amtrak IG

Amtrak mismanagement could delay by three months Penn Station’s expansion across Eighth Ave. into the Farley Post Office, says a report published Wednesday by the railroad’s inspector general.

Gov. Cuomo has for months said the shiny new station — named Moynihan Train Hall after the late New York Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan — would open by the end of 2020.

But mishaps early on in the project on top of delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic could push the debut back to March, the IG report states.

The train hall will serve as Amtrak’s New York hub and offer an alternative to Penn Station for NJ Transit and Long Island Rail Road riders while they wait for their trains. The new space will also include retail, and Facebook last month inked a deal to occupy 730,000 square feet in the redeveloped building.

The project initially was supposed to be completed by March 2021. At Cuomo’s request, the timeline was moved up three months — but the IG says that deadline is unlikely to be met.

Amtrak in 2017 committed to $106 million of work on the $1.6 billion project — including installing ventilation systems, construction of new office space and a wayfinding system for passengers.

A combination of inexperienced managers and no set construction schedule on the Amtrak portion of the project led to cost overruns, the report states.

In the summer of 2019, Amtrak officials discovered “some program team members had been unilaterally approving contract changes that committed the company to additional spending without executive approval,” according to the report.

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https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york...rva-story.html