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‘All systems go’ for US’ largest federally-funded mass-transit project
13 June 2024
The US Gateway Program project – a US$16 billion rail and tunnel build and rehabilitation in New York, New Jersey, and surrounding northeastern states – received another allocation of federal funding worth $6.8 billion for the Hudson Tunnel Project on Tuesday, 11 June, which officials and project managers said serves as the ‘green light’ for major construction.
Workers perform Portal Bridge rail maintenance in New Jersey, US. Reconstruction of the Portal Bridge is one of several major projects of the Gateway Program. (Image: Gateway Program Commission)
US Senator from New York Chuck Schumer wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “It’s all systems go for the Gateway Tunnel!”
He said the US federal government is to “pay for most” of the $16-billion build that will improve rail lines and tunnels for Amtrak commuter train service in the country’s Northeast Corridor.
In 2023, the project broke the record for dollars-spent by the US federal government on a single mass-transit project; before Tuesday’s announcement, $12 billion was already earmarked to improve capacity, reliability, and resiliency of commuter and intercity rail transit serving 800,000 daily passengers from Washington D.C., New York, and New England states.
Tom Wright, president and CEO of the Regional Plan Association (RPA) and Build Gateway Now (BGN) coalition, said, “[The RPA and BGN coalition] celebrate the historic news that the Hudson Tunnel Project will officially be fully funded, with the largest federal grant ever awarded to a mass-transit project in the United States.”
Construction works schduled for the Gateway Program project
The joint venture (JV) of Mace-Parsons-Arcadis (MPA Delivery Partners) was selected as main contractors earlier this year. The JV is made up of firms from the UK-US-Netherlands, respectively.
Together they’ll build a two-tube, nine-mile-long tunnel (Hudson Tunnel Project) with new rail between New York and New Jersey underneath the Hudson River. This specific portion of the scheme is proving to be the costliest ($11.6 billion) of the Gateway projects. The JV will also repair the more-than-century old North River Tunnel and the Hudson Palisades Tunnel, in addition to bridge construction and repair as well as train yard and station improvements.
Initial construction started in late 2023. New construction on the underwater tunnels could start as early as this year and is expected to last until 2035 to 2038.
Watch an animation of one portion of the Gateway Program project below:
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