New Hudson Rail Tunnel Gets Federal Approval

A new Hudson River rail tunnel connecting New Jersey and Manhattan along the Northeast Corridor has been approved by the Federal Transit Administration.

A federal agency has approved a plan to build a second commuter rail tunnel to Manhattan, clearing the way for construction of the $8.7 billion project to begin by the end of the year, Governor Corzine announced Wednesday.

The Federal Transit Administration's "record of decision" completes the project's environmental review process and allows the tunnel to receive as much as $3 billion in federal funding, Corzine said.

The local share of the financing — $5.7 billion — includes $3 billion from the Port Authority, with the remainder coming from the state. The project is expected to be completed by 2017.

Corzine noted that the tunnel project, which is expected to generate 6,000 jobs, could be part of a nationwide transportation upgrade that could help stimulate the sour economy.

The tunnel has been a long time coming and would double the capacity along the Northeast Corridor. However, the story also reports that this would enable one-seat rides from the Bergen/Pascack/Main lines. That's great, except that it would mean that the billion dollar boondoggle, the Secaucus Transfer, would be rendered all but obsolete and utilization would be even lower than it already is.

The long term plans were always to have a one-seat ride from Northern New Jersey into Manhattan, and yet NJ Transit did nothing to reduce costs relating to the construction of Secaucus Transfer, and taxpayers and commuters have had to foot that bill and will do so for years to come.

Also, to expect that the new rail tunnel will come in on budget is laughable given the way the state and infrastructure projects have a way of seeing costs rise exponentially.