Pennsylvania Station, commonly known as Penn Station, has served New York City commuters for more than a century. Constructed between 1905 and 1910, the station is located in the underground levels of Pennsylvania Plaza in the heart of Manhattan. It stretches five levels below the city, encompasses approximately one million square feet and serves more than four million travelers a year.
Today, Penn Station, which sits below Madison Square Garden, is served by a number of passenger rail services including Amtrak (the station’s owner), Long Island Rail Road, New Jersey Transit, and the New York City Subway. For the past 15 years, Amtrak has initiated several renovation projects to improve the appearance of the station and help reduce its overall operating costs. Upgrades such as new paint, updated audio, and visual information systems and security systems have helped create a welcoming atmosphere for tourists and passengers. But, improvements were still needed for the station’s lighting system, which was no longer providing adequate light levels or meeting current energy standards.
The lighting system in Penn Station, installed more than 40 years ago, was a combination of metal halide, high-pressure sodium, and incandescent lamps and fixtures. The lighting system, comprising more than 3,000 luminaires, and 5,000 lamps in the common/rotunda, service plant, baggage, vendor, maintenance, and track areas, was a challenge to maintain. The lamps lasted different hours in each area of use, and more frequently than not, a large number needed to be replaced due to burnouts and color depreciation or color shift. This was very time consuming and potentially dangerous for the station’s engineering and electrical personnel.
In March 2006, Amtrak consulted James Maitilasso of Quality Conservation Services, Inc. (QCS), experts in providing solutions for energy conservation and energy-efficient lighting, to determine a plan to replace the outdated lighting system with new energy-efficient technologies. QCS, in an agreement with Con Edison in New York City, the region’s energy supplier, had been completing similar energy efficient lighting projects to reduce energy consumption by other commercial customers.
Maitilasso consulted TCP, Inc., a manufacturer of energy-efficient lighting products, to determine an appropriate lighting solution. Maitilasso also included AM Conservation Group, Inc., one of the largest lighting distributors in the country to assist, given their large inventory and existing relationship with TCP.
QCS recommended Penn Station relamp its facility with TCP’s energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) for more than 75% of the total project. In particular, TCP’s 289 series of commercial CFLs was recommended based on its long lamp life (10,000 hours) and very low failure rate at less than 0.5%.
During the renovation, the station was split into six distinct areas: the rotunda/common, service plant, baggage pass, vendor areas, maintenance and tracks. The lighting recommendation included everything from taxi stands and retail locations, like T.G.I. Fridays and Kentucky Fried Chicken, to train platforms and several tunnels.
