Signs of life stir for rail tunnel under Hudson
SEPTEMBER 21, 2014, 10:25 PM LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2014, 12:32 AM
BY CHRISTOPHER MAAG
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
When Governor Christie, citing potential cost overruns, canceled a project to build new tunnels under the Hudson River, many thought the effort to build rail connections between New Jersey and New York was dead, possibly forever.
Just weeks after Christie’s announcement, however, powerful forces in both states announced initiatives to jump-start the process in other forms. Now, the first phase of one of these projects, a Hudson River tunnel from New York Penn Station, is nearly complete. Other plans, such as expanding Penn Station, extending the New York subway to Secaucus, and modernizing New Jersey’s railroad tracks, are making quiet progress. But plans, approvals, and, most important, funding for the largest portions of the project have not been secured.
Each of these parallel efforts is a race against time. It may take years — even decades — to muster the money and political will necessary to complete new cross-Hudson tunnels. Meanwhile, the 104-year-oldtunnels that carry 160,000 commuters every day will fail completely within 20 years, Joe Boardman, CEO of Amtrak, announced in April.“All this planning will take years, and that’s part of the problem,” said Richard E. Barone, transportation director at Regional Plan Association, a non-profit planning group. “The system is bursting at the seams. We have no choice but to figure this out.”
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