$16 Billion NY-NJ Rail Tunnel Gets Billions In Funding From Feds

By FrumNews

Manhattan, NY – The long-delayed “Gateway Project,” which would construct new rail tunnels under the Hudson River, has secured a whopping $6.9 billion in federal grants from the Federal Transit Administration—the largest grant ever signed by the agency. Under the former Biden administration, shortly before President Trump took office.

The tunnels are at the center of “The Gateway Project,” which will ease congestion along the Amtrak route. It includes a new tunnel under the Hudson River and rehabilitates the existing century-old tunnel.

The old tunnel was destroyed during Hurricane Sandy and needs to be rehabilitated. Even before Sandy, efforts were made to eliminate the bottleneck by adding a new tunnel, resulting in four modern tracks between New York and New Jersey. 

Currently, New Jersey Transit and Amtrak trains have to pass through a one-track tunnel to enter Manhattan. A small disruption to the narrow passage can ripple across both train lines and cause headaches for commuters. The issue came to a head recently when wire issues and a disabled train disrupted Amtrak and NJ Transit service for hours.

Political leaders in DC and the Tristate area rushed to secure funding ahead of Trump’s inauguration. Politics has pushed the program to the curb before. Then-NJ Gov. Chris Christie canceled a previous iteration of the project and said that New Jersey residents cannot be subject to unfair shouldering. The previous Trump administration in 2016 also stalled funding efforts for the project.

The funding came from Biden’s Infrastructure bill, which passed in 2021. Federal funds now total over 12 billion dollars for this project. Additional funds of 1 Billion will be paid by Amtrak, as well from New York and New Jersey. 

The complete project is projected to be completed by 2038… In addition, the project will provide the capability to significantly expand capacity in the future.

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