Amtrak, the financially challenged national railroad, revealed on Monday how monumentally different Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan might look after a $7 billion transformation, though it still could not explain where it expected to get all of that money.
Three weeks after announcing that it has chosen a master developer for the long-overdue project to upgrade Penn Station, Amtrak showed off the developer’s vision for a stone-columned facade that would resemble the century-old Farley Building across the street on Eighth Avenue.
The developers, a group known as Penn Transformation Partners, would add a grand entrance with sweeping staircases leading to an airy, glass-walled concourse bathed in the natural light, which the station has lacked. To make room for that entrance, they would remove a theater that clings to the side of Madison Square Garden, the entertainment arena that squats atop the station.
That plan was sketched out in a set of renderings and floor plans that transportation officials and representatives of the developers released to the public on Monday. They promised a “spectacular transformation” that would restore “dignity and beauty” to a station that has been trapped underground for six decades.
The developers’ principal architect, Vishaan Chakrabarti, said that he could foresee the revamped station having such an inviting vibe that travelers would bide their time at a cocktail bar on the mezzanine overlooking a concourse with high ceilings. He described the exterior as “very porous and inviting” and the concourse as “a 450-foot-long civic room.”
But the planners did not lay out a concrete plan for financing the project, except to say that it would require a combination of government funding and contributions from private companies. Sean P. Duffy, the transportation secretary, had pledged significant support from Washington, but so far the federal government has provided less than $250 million.
“We will be putting in for every grant and loan we could possibly get,” said Andy Byford, the executive overseeing the project for Amtrak, which owns the station. “We need billions of dollars.”
With a deadline to start construction by the end of next year, Mr. Byford has already begun making the rounds. He said that he presented the plan to Gov. Kathy Hochul, Democrat of New York, who had insisted that the state would not be contributing.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the biggest user of Penn Station, had been leading a project to remake the station. But last year, President Trump seized control of the project, spurring Ms. Hochul to withdraw more than $1 billion that New York had committed to it.
Amtrak’s base of operations in New York is in the Farley Building, the grand post office structure across Eighth Avenue that was partially converted into the Moynihan Train Hall. Penn Station now largely serves commuters taking the Long Island Rail Road and New Jersey Transit.
Patrick McGeehan is a Times reporter who covers the economy of New York City and its airports and other transportation hubs.
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