New York just debuted a $1.6 billion train hall to upgrade its notorious Penn Station, complete with skylight ceilings and a premium lounge - see inside

New York City's new Moynihan Train Hall.Thomas Pallini/Business Insider

• Moynihan Train Hall at New York's Pennsylvania Station opened to the public on New Year's Day, after three years of construction and a total cost of $1.6 billion.
• Amtrak is the primary tenant with its own waiting rooms and a new premium lounge for first class and frequent riders.
• Long Island Rail Road commuters also able to use the facility, but NJ Transit will continue use the old station.

Just hours after the ball dropped in Times Square to mark the arrival of a new year, a new era for train travel was inaugurated just 10 blocks to the south.

Moynihan Train Hall at Pennsylvania Station opened to the public on January 1, giving the busiest train station in North America a long-overdue and much-needed upgrade. The $1.6 billion facility took three years to build and is in part an attempt to remedy the mistakes of the past, when the original - and opulent - Pennsylvania Station was demolished in the 1960s to make way for Madison Square Garden.

In the 60 years since, those arriving into the city on Amtrak, NJ Transit, and Long Island Rail Road trains were relegated to a subterranean labyrinth that quickly proved inadequate to meet the needs of a growing city. Friday's grand-opening marks the end of a 30-year endeavor for Amtrak, which had been planning to expand across 8th Avenue into the James A. Farley Post Office building for decades.

Amtrak, Long Island Rail Road, and New York City subway passengers will be the first to utilize the new facility while NJ Transit will still be located in the existing station. But on Friday, the city came down to see its long-awaited station and give it a proper New York welcome.

Take a look inside Moynihan Train Hall.