Hudson Yards takes its name from the rail yard beside the Hudson River.
The development and neighbourhood are named after the MTA rail yard along the Hudson between 30th and 33rd Streets, once part of a Penn Central yard reaching to 39th Street; since 1987 it has stored commuter trains as the West Side Yard. 34th Street was one of 15 crosstown streets that the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811 made 100 feet wide; most others were 60 feet.