MIDTOWN — Penn Station commuters felt the heat for a third straight day while the air conditioning was being overhauled through the week and into the weekend.
As temperatures outside still hovered around 80 degrees, Kiewit Constructors workers inside had to sweat through the $30 million renovation of chillers and cooling towers that was limiting the capacity of the towers in the commuter waiting area, an Amtrak spokesman said.
The work was estimated to be completed this weekend, the spokesman said.
In the meantime, commuters were losing their cool over the renovations.
"It's really unpleasant," said Gaya Gopi, 30, a teacher who lives in Gramercy. "I feel bad for all the people who work here.
"In New York, there can be a lot of discomfort," she added. "I don't want to think what it's going to be like in August."
Tourists, too, were fed up with the heat, saying New Yorkers should be up in arms over the repairs.
"There's no excuse for this. This is one of the biggest train stations in the country," said Bhairat Shah, who is visiting from Appleton, Wisconsin. "It's like being on a tarmac for three hours. Everyone should be complaining."
Stephanie Johnson, 37, a teacher from Sacramento, said if Penn Station is like this in May, she doesn't plan to come back to town over the next few months.
"It's miserable. It's unbelievable," Johnson, who was going to Washington, D.C., with her husband and children, said. "It's bad timing to those of us who aren't used to this humidity.
"If this is what summer in New York is like, I don't want any part of it," she said.
