What is the Hudson Tunnel Project?

It appears to be full steam ahead for the Hudson Tunnel Project. There will be a new Hudson River rail tunnel constructed to serve the New York Penn Station and will involve rehabilitating the North River Tunnel.

The Hudson Tunnel Project is a total $16 billion investment to improve New Jersey Transit and Amtrak service between the two neighboring states. The project is funded by the $1.2 trillion infrastructure law, which President Joe Biden signed in 2021.

A $292 million federal grant will get work underway on the Manhattan side of the new Hudson River rail tunnels linking Penn Station to New Jersey, according to Sen. Chuck Schumer.

The grant is almost half of the $600 million cost of building the concrete casing of a box tunnel that will carry trains beneath Hudson Yards in and out of Penn Station as part of the Gateway Program.

This is just one element of the project and will help the multi-year project get off the ground. The tunnels are part of the overall Gateway project, which is estimated to cost $30 billion.

The project also includes new bridges and tracks west of Secaucus. Construction is expected to be done in the 2030s. At the project’s end, there will be four tracks available for trains between Newark and New York.

This project alone will create 72,000 jobs, according to experts. These totals will add to the already existing shortage of qualified construction workers that are needed in the field.