First phase of Moynihan Train Hall project opens on Eighth Ave.

The first phase of the Moynihan Train Hall quietly opened on Thursday morning, unveiling an Eighth Avenue entrance to tracks below the James A. Farley Post Office.

The expansion of the West End Concourse is intended to create additional access to The Long Island Rail Road and Amtrak tracks and will eventually connect Penn Station to the new Moynihan Train Hall along 33rd Street. The new concourse was supposed to open in the fall, but Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered design changes and tech upgrades, including a LED display and other way-finding screens, Crain’s reported at the time.

State officials changed the opening date to spring 2017, a deadline they met with less than a week to spare. The opening was met with very little fanfare.

Skanska [TRDataCustom] construction workers could still be spotted working on the station on Thursday.

The state initiated the first phase of the project in 2011, calling for new entrances along Eighth Avenue and a wider corridor beneath 33rd Street. In September, Cuomo tapped Related Companies and Vornado Realty Trust to redevelop the post office into 700,000 square feet of office and retail space and a 255,000-square-foot train hall. That part of the project is expected to be completed in 2020 and cost roughly $1.6 billion — $600 million of which will come from developers.

The governor has also proposed shifting control of Penn Station to Port Authority, a private operator or the state. As part of that proposal, whoever takes over will oversee redevelopment projects at Penn, Moynihan and the Gateway Tunnel project.