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Senator Charles Schumer announced Tuesday morning that the federal government will award more than $83 million in stimulus funding to the project to transform the Farley Post Office on Eighth Avenue into a rail station.

Schumer says the funding will create thousands of jobs and help development on Manhattan's West Side.

The project will also allow for many more trains to come into the station.

“You've got to keep at it, keep at it, keep at it, keep at it,” said Schumer. “And sometimes you succeed and this looks like one of those times.”

The federal funding would go toward paying for the first phase of the two-part project. Schumer said the first phase – which is expected to cost about $210 million – would expand and modernize the existing Pennsylvania Station, by doubling the size of the station's often-cramped waiting area.

It would also provide access between Penn Station and the future station, which will to be named after the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. The first phase would also include infrastructure improvements, like new elevators, escalators and stairs to connect passengers to train platforms.

Meanwhile, Senator Moynihan's daughter, Maura Moynihan, said she was pleased with Tuesday's development but is only cautiously optimistic.

"I want to see some hard hats and sand hogs walking around the Farley Bldg. I will really believe it then," said Moynihan.

Construction on the first phase of this station project could begin within a matter of months, and may take up to five years to complete.

Schumer says two official approvals are still needed before the project can get underway, but he says neither pose a problem at this point.

There was new life breathed into the plan in September when Amtrak agreed to relocate its services to the new station.