34 Street–Penn Station  ​​
Express platform
Station statistics
Address	West 34th Street & Eighth Avenue New York, New York
Borough	Manhattan
Locale	Midtown Manhattan
Coordinates	40°45′08″N73°59′37″W / 40.752166°N 73.993521°W /40.752166; -73.993521
Division	B (IND)[1]
Line	IND Eighth Avenue Line
Services	A  (all times) ​  C  (all except late nights) ​  E  (all times)
Transit	NYCT Bus:M7,M20,M34 SBS,M34A SBS,SIM23,SIM24 MTA Bus:Q32 FlixBus PATH:JSQ–33,HOB–33,JSQ–33 (via HOB) (at33rd Street) Amtrak,LIRR,NJT Rail (atPenn Station)
Structure	Underground
Platforms	2side platforms (local) 1island platform (express)
Tracks	4
Other information
Opened	September 10, 1932; 93 years ago (1932-09-10)[2]
Accessible	ADA-accessible
Traffic
2024	18,393,456[3]  8.4%
Rank	6 out of 423[3]
Services Preceding station New York City Subway Following station 42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal A  ​C  ​E  services split Express 14th Street A  ​C  towardFar Rockaway–Mott Avenue orOzone Park–Lefferts Boulevard Local 23rd Street A  ​C  ​E  viaCanal Street
Location Show map of New York City Subway Show map of New York City Show map of New York
Track layout Legend to42nd St–PABT upper level Former trackway from 42nd St–PABT lower level to23rd Street to14th Street
Street map
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times except late nights Stops all times Stops late nights only

34th Street–Penn Station is an expressstation on theIND Eighth Avenue Line of theNew York City Subway, located at the intersection of34th Street andEighth Avenue inMidtown Manhattan. It is served by theA andE trains at all times, and by theC train at all times except late nights. The station is adjacent toPennsylvania Station, the busiest railroad station in the United States as well as a major transfer point toAmtrak,NJ Transit, and theLong Island Rail Road.

New York City mayorJohn Francis Hylan's original plans for theIndependent Subway System (IND), proposed in 1922, included building over 100 miles (160 km) of new lines and taking over nearly 100 miles (160 km) of existing lines. The lines were designed to compete with the existing underground, surface, and elevated lines operated by the IRT andBrooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT).^[4][5] On December 9, 1924, theNew York City Board of Transportation (BOT) gave preliminary approval to the construction of a subway line along Eighth Avenue, running from 207th Street.^[6] The BOT announced a list of stations on the new line in February 1928, with an express station at 33rd Street.^[7]

Most of the Eighth Avenue Line was dug using a cheapcut-and-cover method, including 34th Street–Penn Station.^[8][9] During the station's construction, workers found remnants of an old stream that had originated atHerald Square and flowed through the area.^[9][10] The stream was diverted into a sewer, and concrete waterproofing was installed below the 34th Street station's mezzanine.^[10] In addition, the subway line had to pass above the tracks of Penn Station.^[9] The finishes at the four stations between14th and42nd Street were 21 percent completed by May 1930.^[11] By that August, the BOT reported that the Eighth Avenue Line was nearly completed and that the four stations from 14th to 42nd Street were 99.8 percent completed.^[12] The entire line was completed by September 1931, except for the installation of turnstiles.^[13]

A preview event for the new subway was hosted on September 8, 1932, two days before the official opening.^[14][15] The Eighth Avenue Line station opened on September 10, 1932, as part of the city-operated IND's initial segment, the Eighth Avenue Line betweenChambers Street and207th Street.^[2][16][17] The construction of the Eighth Avenue Line caused real-estate values along Eighth Avenue to increase by as much as 400 percent.^[18][19]

The station's token booths were shuttered in May 2005, after fare tokens were replaced withMetroCards; station agents were deployed elsewhere in the station to answer passengers' queries. This was part of a pilot program that was tested at seven other stations.^[20]

Under the 2015–2019MTA Capital Plan, the station, along with thirty-two other New York City Subway stations, underwent a complete overhaul as part of theEnhanced Station Initiative. Updates included cellular service, Wi-Fi, charging stations, improved signage, and improved station lighting. Unlike other stations that were renovated under the initiative, 34th Street–Penn Station was not completely closed during construction.^[21] In January 2018, the NYCT and Bus Committee recommended that Judlau Contracting receive the $125 million contract for the renovations of57th and23rd Streets on theIND Sixth Avenue Line;28th Street on theIRT Lexington Avenue Line, and 34th Street–Penn Station on theIRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line and IND Eighth Avenue Line.^[22] However, the MTA Board temporarily deferred the vote for these packages after city representatives refused to vote to award the contracts.^[23][24] The contract was put back for a vote in February, where it was ultimately approved.^[25] These improvements were substantially completed by May 2019.^[26]

Ground	Street level	Entrances/exits Elevators at: South side of 34th Street west of Seventh Avenue at LIRR entrance Southeast corner of 34th Street and Eighth Avenue
Platform level
	Side platform
	Northbound local	← toward168th Street(42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal) ← towardJamaica Center–Parsons/Archer(42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal) ← towardInwood–207th Street late nights(42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal)
	Northbound express	← towardInwood–207th Street(42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal)
	Island platform
	Southbound express	→ towardFar Rockaway–Mott Avenue,Rockaway Park–Beach 116th Street, orOzone Park–Lefferts Boulevard(14th Street)
	Southbound local	→ towardEuclid Avenue(23rd Street) → → towardWorld Trade Center(23rd Street) → → towardFar Rockaway–Mott Avenue late nights(23rd Street) →
	Side platform
Mezzanine	Mezzanine	Connector between platforms, connection toPenn Station

This station has twoside platforms for local service and a centerisland platform for express service.Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center on theIRT Eastern Parkway Line and34th Street–Penn Station on theIRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line are the only other stations in the system with this configuration.^[27] This is due to the expected increase in ridership and to encourage riders to switch at the next stop northbound,42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal, as it is set up in the usual island platform manner for cross-platform interchanges. There is no free transfer between this station and the station of the same name on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line, despite the fact that both connect to Penn Station. The nearest transfer location is at 42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal with a free transfer toTimes Square–42nd Street.

The station is served byA andE trains at all times,^[28][29] and byC trains except at night.^[30] A trains use the express tracks during the day and the local tracks during the night, while C and E trains always use the local tracks.^[31] The next station to the north is 42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal for all service, while the next station to the south is23rd Street for local trains and14th Street for express trains.^[32]

South of the station, an additional track begins at abumper block between the two express tracks with a connection to both at both ends (about 25th Street on the south end and 33rd Street on the north end). This allows for various extra movements of trains including storage or removal of a train with mechanical problems to be sent back in the other direction. It could also be used if 34th Street functioned as a terminal station.^[33]

The walls of the station contain red-tile bands bordered in black; since 34th Street is an express station, it has a wider tile band than local stations. The tile colors are intended to help riders identify their station more easily, part of a color-codedtile system for the entire Independent Subway System.^[34] The tile colors were designed to facilitate navigation for travelers going away fromLower Manhattan; on the Eighth Avenue Line, the tiles change color at the next express station to the north. Because the next station to the north,42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal, is an express station, the adjacent stations to the north and south both used different tile colors.^[35][36]

The stations on the Eighth Avenue Line were built with 600 feet (180 m) long platforms, but there were provisions to lengthen them to 660 feet (200 m) to accommodate eleven-car trains.^[37]: 70 Below the red band are small tile captions reading "34" in stretchedArial font, though these are not original to the station. Originally, the station had no trim line and the tile captions were in the standard IND caption font. The original mosaic name tablets, however, are still visible, being surrounded by new black tiles; the mosaics read "34TH STREET PENN. STATION" broken onto two lines on a claret background and same claret border. Red I-beam columns run along all the platforms at regular intervals, alternating ones having the standard black station name plate with white lettering.

Like other subway stations, 34th Street–Penn Station includes black-and-white "sighting boards" for conductors topoint and call, thereby indicating to the motorman that the train has stopped at the right position. On the downtown express platform, there is a blue-and-white sighting board for theR110B, a now-retired prototypeNew Technology Train whose conductor's cab was not aligned with any other fleet's conductors' cabs. This board is still extant and is one of a few publicly visible remnants of the R110B's operation.^{[citation needed]}

34th Street–Penn Station spans three streets (33rd, 34th, and 35th Streets) with a set of entrances/exits at all of these streets. For the purposes of this article, entrance and exit are interchangeable.^[38] When the station opened, it contained 17 entrances and exits, more than almost any other station on the Eighth Avenue Line except for Chambers Street/Hudson Terminal.^[15]

At 35th Street is a part-time booth entrance. Each local platform has its own fare control. On the local platforms, there areHigh Entry-Exit Turnstiles for these exits at platform level. There is a narrow underpass connecting the platforms inside fare control. The northbound platform has two street stairs to the northeast corner of 35th Street and Eighth Avenue, and one to the southeast corner. The southbound platform has two street stairs to the northwest corner of 35th Street and Eighth Avenue, and one to the southwest corner.^[38]

At 34th Street is a part-time booth entrance. Each local platform has its own fare control. There is an underpass connecting the platforms inside fare control, and it leads to the LIRR West Side Concourse outside of fare control. There is also a passageway providing out-of-system access to thestation of the same name on theIRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line. The northbound platform has one street stair to each eastern corner of 34th Street and Eighth Avenue. The southbound platform has one street stair to each western corner of 34th Street and Eighth Avenue. There is a single elevator to the northbound platform at the southeastern corner of the intersection, connecting to that platform's fare control. Inside fare control, three elevators from each platform go down to the underpass.^[38] There was a tunnel linking to theNew Yorker Hotel at the northwest corner of the intersection, which opened in 1930^[39] and was closed by the 1960s;^[40] it later became a storage area.^[41]

At 33rd Street is the full-time entrance, with token booths on both sides; the full-time booth is on the northbound platform. All three platforms have their own fare control. The underpass connecting the platforms is outside fare control. The northbound local platform's fare control leads to a street stair to the northeast corner of 33rd Street and Eighth Avenue, as well as a direct passageway to the basement of Penn Station/Madison Square Garden. The southbound local platform's fare control leads to a street stair to the northwest corner of 33rd Street and Eighth Avenue, as well as a double-wide granite staircase at the southwest corner (in a plaza outside theJames A. Farley Post Office Building).^[38] A passageway connects the Eighth Avenue Line station with theMoynihan Train Hall, which opened in 2021.^[42]

• 
  Entrance outside Moynihan Train Hall
• 
  Detail of "The Garden of Circus Delights" mosaic beneath the platforms

Wikimedia Commons has media related to34th Street – Penn Station (IND Eighth Avenue Line).

• nycsubway.org –IND 8th Avenue: 34th Street/Penn Station
• nycsubway.org —Garden of Circus Delights Artwork by Eric Fischl (2001)
• MTA's Arts For Transit —34th Street–Penn Station (IND Eighth Avenue Line)

• Accessible New York City Subway stations
• IND Eighth Avenue Line stations
• Eighth Avenue (Manhattan)
• New York City Subway stations in Manhattan
• Railway stations in the United States opened in 1932
• Midtown Manhattan
• 1932 establishments in New York City
• 34th Street (Manhattan)

• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use American English from September 2025
• All Wikipedia articles written in American English
• Use mdy dates from August 2023
• Coordinates on Wikidata
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from October 2019
• Commons category link from Wikidata
• Pages using the Kartographer extension