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The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey recently agreed to provide New Jersey Transit $10 million to begin engineering work on a project designed to reduce rush-hour crowding at New York Penn Station platforms and expand commuter-rail service.

The funds support NJ Transit’s "Access to the Region’s Core" initiative, which is aimed at finding ways to meet the region’s growing demand for commuter, intercity and airport access services.

NJ Transit plans to connect its platforms with an expanded central corridor in the existing Penn Station and build a concourse extending into the planned Moynihan Station across Eighth Avenue. Scheduled to be complete by 2010, the concourse would enable NJ Transit passengers to exit and enter platforms more quickly during peak travel periods. The agency expects the projects to double trans-Hudson rush hour rail service.

Some of the funds also will be used to increase coordination between NJ Transit, New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Amtrak and the port authority to improve and expand rail service on the commuter network and on Northeast Corridor rail lines.