Now comes the boring part.
A years-long campaign to build the first new Hudson River rail tunnel in more than a century took a sizable step forward Monday with the launch of the first 1,700-ton machine that will bore through rock beneath the New Jersey Palisades en route to carving out a new two-tube rail link in the river.
The milestone came after the Trump administration cut off and then, earlier this year, restored federal funding for Gateway, the $16 billion series of rail improvements on both sides of the Hudson, including a new tunnel that will daily carry 200,000 passengers on 450 New Jersey Transit and Amtrak trains across the river.
“Many thought this day would never come, a lot of fits and starts,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul said at the North Bergen, N.J. tunnel portal. “But here we are, back right on schedule because we believe in getting things done with a sense of urgency.”
Work on the project briefly ground to a halt in February after President Donald Trump “terminated” federal funding for Gateway, as well as for the East Harlem extension of the Second Avenue Subway. At the time the feds yanked the funding last fall, the White House budget director said it was because of “unconstitutional” diversity, equity and inclusion principles.
Before the tunnel project was briefly suspended in February, the work had continued under a line of credit until it was exhausted.
But lawsuits from the Gateway Development Commission as well as from the governors of New York and New Jersey, helped put the federal funding for both transit megaprojects back on track. Top officials from both sides of the Hudson pledged Monday to hold the line on additional challenges from the Trump administration to stop a tunnel that Hochul said she is hopeful can open in 2034.
“It’s been a hard but a worthy fight,” said New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill. “We’ve taken the Trump administration to court five times to keep this project going and we won five times — and we’re going to keep fighting even if it requires a few more trips to court.”
Grinding Through Rock
The 500-foot-long tunnel boring machine and a second that will follow are set to begin chipping away at rock beneath the Palisades, grinding through approximately 30 feet a day on the way to another access shaft on the Weehawken and Hoboken border. The two will then be removed via the shaft before being replaced with a second pair that will build the Hudson River section of the rail tunnel.
Work on the tunnel boring machines, which are made up of more than 100 complex components, began more than three years ago.
“I know this machine only goes in one direction — forward,” Sherrill said. “I hope that motivates us to keep driving Gateway forward no matter what else gets thrown in our way.”
The new tunnel is designed to replace the North River Tunnel, which opened in 1910. The tubes within the 116-year-old Hudson River rail link were heavily damaged by flooding brought on by Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and have been prone to breakdowns. The New York-New Jersey connector is a vital link in the county’s busiest rail corridor.
Officials said construction of the project is expected to create close to 100,000 jobs and generate $20 billion in economic activity.
Hochul said that further delays on Gateway — which emerged after then-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie scrapped a similar effort in 2010 — are out of the question.
“Gone are the days when something can be studied and let that sit on a shelf for another decade and we’ll talk about it,” she said. “It just doesn’t work for us. Our entire economy cannot hinge on tunnels built over a hundred years ago.”
Thomas Prendergast, the chief executive of the bi-state Gateway Development Commission, said that the level of commitment from congressional leaders in New York and New Jersey is a reflection that “at that level, there’s no turning back” for the project.
“They’ll do whatever is necessary to be able to keep the money flowing so we can continue with the project,” said Prendergast, a former head of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. “That’s the way we’re looking at it.”
The commission has a $6.8 billion full funding grant agreement with the United States Department of Transportation. That money was awarded under the Biden administration and will also be used to rehabilitate the existing North River Tunnel once its replacement is operational.
But a spokesperson for the federal agency hinted at the potential for further conflict over Gateway.
“USDOT’s appeal against the possible use of taxpayer dollars for unconstitutional, discriminatory contracting practices is ongoing,” the statement read.
Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, said the tunnel is central to the nation’s economic well-being.
“We are going to finish this tunnel on time or ahead of time,” he said. “And we’re going to make sure that the economic strength of our area, our New York and New Jersey area continues way on into the future.”
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