At New York Penn Station, the hemisphere’s busiest transit hub, Madison Square Garden occupies the penthouse and rail riders get the dingy basement.

But the cellar-dwellers are ready to emerge from the darkness.

As the New York City Planning Commission and City Council consider whether to renew the 50-year permit that allowed the Garden to operate on top of Penn Station, the three transit agencies that use the station below — including NJ Transit and Amtrak — are asking for skylights, better signage and improvements to entrances, elevators and taxiway pedestrian access as a condition for renewal.

The Madison Square Garden Co., which owns the arena that is undergoing a nearly $1 billion renovation, wants a permit to operate in perpetuity.

But some regional planners and politicians, who say having the Garden atop the transportation hub chokes the much-needed expansion of Penn Station, instead would like to see only a 10-year permit renewal, allowing time for the Garden to find an alternative location in Manhattan.

The civic groups Regional Plan Association and Municipal Art Society formed an alliance to advocate for the overhaul of Penn Station and relocation of the Garden. They called on regional planners and politicians to "seize a unique opportunity this year to envision substantial changes to Penn Station, where overcrowded and grim public areas have plagued hundreds of thousands of daily commuters for nearly five decades."

It has all the makings of a record-breaking title bout at MSG’s famed boxing ring.

In this corner, weighing in with hundreds of thousands of basketball and hockey fans and concertgoers, "The World’s Most Famous Arena."

And in this corner, weighing in with hundreds of thousands of commuters, North America’s busiest rail station.

Carmelo Anthony and the rest of the Knicks would play in a different building if some regional planners and politicians had their say.

When the ornate Beaux Arts original Pennsylvania Station was demolished in the early 1960s to make way for a train station topped by Madison Square Garden, passenger rail was thought to be waning. About 200,000 passengers a day used the station that had grand, soaring ceilings.

Ridership has since tripled, but the space inside the building largely remains the same.

"While Madison Square Garden serves as a major entertainment venue and lively civic asset, the original permit clearly reflects very different urban development priorities from those of today," representatives from NJ Transit, Amtrak and Long Island Rail Road wrote in a letter to the planning commission. "The City’s actions permitting the siting of the arena and the Two Penn Plaza office tower in the place of the iconic station building set the course for the irrevocable loss of a spacious rail terminal and great civic landmark.

"Despite significant subsequent investments by the station’s rail carriers to better accommodate these passengers," the letter continued, "travelers have for decades been confined to functionally inadequate accommodations in the makeshift underground station, and have been hampered by severely limited street-level access at a handful of poorly marked and architecturally flawed entrances that are in some cases all but hidden from the street."

Along with the letter, the transit agency representatives provided photos of passengers packed like sardines, a hard-to-read Pennsylvania Station entrance sign and delivery vehicles blocking traffic outside the station.

Madison Square Garden, owner of the Knicks and Rangers, said in a statement that virtually all special permits are granted without "artificial expirations" and that no other sports arena or stadium in New York City has a time limit imposed.

"The Garden — a company that has recently invested nearly $1 billion in its Arena and helps drive the city’s economy by supporting thousands of jobs and attracting hundreds of annual events — is being unfairly singled out because of a decision that was made 50 years ago: to demolish the original Penn Station," the statement read. "Adding an arbitrary expiration for reasons unrelated to the special permit process or requirements would not only set a dangerous and questionable precedent, but would also hinder our ability to make MSG and New York City the long-term home of even more world-class events, and would harm a business that has served as a significant economic driver for the city for generations."

John W. Nabial Sr. of West Windsor, who commutes from Princeton Junction to Manhattan, would like to see walls demolished "to remove the catacombs feel to much of the station" and have more room left for the flow of passenger traffic.

He also would like to see more access points to the street level and have rail platforms become wider or more accessible, along with better ventilation and lighting.

Commuter Tom Calabria, who takes the train from West Windsor to New York, said the signs and monitors for outbound track assignments are "horrific" on the lower level because they are at eye level and people stand in front of them.

"They constantly bring crowded trains in on platforms that have an outbound train on the opposite side, so half the escalators are going the wrong way," he added.

Drew Galloway, assistant vice president of policy and development at Amtrak, said cramped conditions at the station get so stifling that "several times each year, we literally have to close the station to avoid dangerous overcrowding."

"It’s like the Oklahoma Land Rush at 5 p.m. at 34th Street and 7th Avenue," he added, getting knowing chuckles this month during a presentation in Atlantic City on Amtrak’s proposed Gateway train tunnel from Secaucus to the south side of New York Penn Station.

2 trchristie HINDASH.JPG

CONNECT WITH US

On mobile or desktop:

• Like The Star-Ledger on Facebook

• Follow @starledger on Twitter

And check out our redesigned mobile site by visiting NJ.com from any mobile browser.

New Jersey transportation expert Martin E. Robins, director emeritus of the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers University, has had the claustrophobic feeling of being stuck on crowded platforms at Penn Station, has had long waits for cabs and has had to weave his way through seas of people to get to the other side of the station.

Still, he thinks major destinations such as Madison Square Garden should be close to rail terminals, and hopes the sides work out their differences.

"This would be a useful way in which the city of New York, which now has a considerable amount of planning capacity, could work with Amtrak, the Long Island Rail Road and NJ Transit to take advantage of this lease negotiation and improve those conditions," Robins said. "If the railroads find that there are inadequacies, they should be addressed."

RELATED COVERAGE

• N.J. senators, Amtrak official to announce new commuter train tunnel project across the Hudson

• NJ Transit derailment renews calls for second tunnel under Hudson River to Manhattan

