NEW YORK — A woman has been arrested for abandoning her newborn daughter on a rush hour subway platform at Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan, police said Wednesday.

Assa Diawara, 30, was nabbed late Tuesday for allegedly leaving the infant at the foot of a staircase on the downtown No. 1 train platform at the 34th St.-Penn Station stop about 9 a.m. Monday. The baby is her daughter, police sources said.

NYPD detectives conducting an exhaustive search of surveillance footage in Midtown captured images of Diawara bringing the newborn into Penn Station and then leaving without her, the sources said.

Surveillance video showed Diawara getting into a Cadillac livery cab to Jamaica, Queens, where she was dropped off. Cops canvassed that area and a neighbor recognized her from the surveillance footage and directed police to her home.

When questioned by cops, Diawara admitted to abandoning her daughter in Penn Station, the sources said.

Diawara was charged with abandonment of a child and child endangerment.

She was awaiting arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court Wednesday.

She was caught on surveillance video wearing a red head scarf, pink pants, glasses, and a multi-colored top that might be a hospital gown as she took the baby, who was wrapped in a blanket and cradled in her arms, down into the train station, cops say.

Commuters found the baby alone on the subway steps moments later and called the police.

Medics took the newborn, whose umbilical cord was still attached, to Bellevue Hospital where she was in good health and undergoing an evaluation.

Cops released surveillance images of the suspect on Tuesday and asked the public’s help identifying her and tracking her down.

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