New York City's nightmarish Penn Station is getting a much-needed makeover

SOM

A rendering of the redesigned Penn Station in New York City.

New York City's Penn Station is a transit nightmare. It's crowded, confusing to navigate, and frequently smells like a mix of Auntie Anne's pretzels and body odor.

Traveling through Penn is a bit of a necessary evil that commuters just deal with. It's an incredibly busy transportation hub, where roughly 650,000 people and 1,200 trains pass through each day.

Fortunately for commuters, the train station will soon get a much-needed makeover. In January, New York City Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the Penn Station overhaul, which was projected at the time cost $3 billion. On September 27, he unveiled more specific plans and new renderings by the design firm Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (SOM). 

The new Penn Station, set to be completed in 2019, is now estimated to cost $1.6 billion. Check it out.