The Portal Bridge is a two-track moveable swing-span railroad bridge over the

Hackensack River The Hackensack River is a river, approximately 45 miles (72 km) long, in the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, emptying into Newark Bay, a back chamber of New York Harbor. The watershed of the river includes part of the subur ...

in Kearny and

Secaucus Secaucus ( ) is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the town's population was 16,264,New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, United States. It is on the

Northeast Corridor The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through Providence, New Haven, Stamford, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, a ...

just west of

Secaucus Junction Secaucus Junction (known as Secaucus Transfer during planning stages and signed simply as Secaucus) is a NJ Transit Rail Operations commuter rail hub in Secaucus, New Jersey. The $450 million, station opened on December 15, 2003, and was dedi ...

and east of the

Sawtooth Bridges The Sawtooth Bridges are a pair of railroad bridges on the Northeast Corridor (NEC) known individually as Amtrak Bridge No. 7.80 and Amtrak Bridge No. 7.96. They are located in the Meadowlands in Kearny, New Jersey between Newark Penn Station a ...

. Owned and operated by

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

, and used extensively by

NJ Transit New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit, and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey, along with portions of New York State and Pennsylvania. It operates bu ...

, it is the busiest train span in the Western Hemisphere, carrying between 150,000 and 200,000 passengers per day on approximately 450 daily trains (an average of one train every six minutes over a 24-hour period). Originally opened in 1910, the bridge was built by the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

in conjunction with service to the newly constructed

Pennsylvania Station Pennsylvania Station (often abbreviated Penn Station) is a name applied by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) to several of its grand passenger terminals. Several are still in active use by Amtrak and other transportation services; others have been ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. It is long. The bridge clearance of requires it to swing open to allow even small commercial boats to pass underneath it. By the 2000s, the Portal Bridge was considered obsolete and train speeds are limited to . Replacement of the bridge is the first phase of the

Gateway Project The Gateway Program (originally Gateway Project) is the planned phased expansion and renovation of the Northeast Corridor (NEC) rail line between Newark, New Jersey and New York City, New York. The right-of-way runs between Newark Penn Station ...

. After initially refusing to provide any funding for the project, the Trump administration allowed the project to move forward in February 2020. The project is estimated to cost $1.8 billion. Funding comprises $811 million from the State of New Jersey, $766.5 million from the

Federal Transit Administration The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is an agency within the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) that provides financial and technical assistance to local public transportation systems. The FTA is one of ten modal administration ...

(FTA), $261.5 million from Amtrak and $57.1 million from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Construction of the new bridge was given final approval to proceed in April 2022 and later began on August 1, 2022. The first track on the new bridge is scheduled to be operational in November 2025.

Design and construction

The bridge was built by the

as part of its

New York Tunnel Extension The New York Tunnel Extension (also New York Improvement and Tunnel Extension) is a combination of railroad tunnels and approaches from New Jersey and Long Island to Pennsylvania Station (New York City), Pennsylvania Station in Midtown Manhattan ...

project, which also included the

North River Tunnels The North River Tunnels are a pair of rail tunnels that carry Amtrak and New Jersey Transit passenger lines under the Hudson River between Weehawken, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan, New York City, New York. Built between 1904 ...

, and Manhattan Transfer station. Hackensack Drawbridge tracks

The Portal Bridge is a steel structure with masonry abutments. The bridge consists of a through-truss swing span and six open-deck girder approach spans (three on each side of the center span). The bridge itself is partially made of wood. Construction of the bridge was begun in August 1905, and the bridge was placed in service on November 27, 1910, based on bridge designs from the 1840s. The bridge was designed to last 100 years. Overhead catenary to supply power to electric locomotives was installed in the 1930s. Some of the bridge machinery was updated in 1931. Minor repairs were made in the 1970s, and major repairs to structural, mechanical and electrical equipment were completed as part of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor Improvement Project between 1982 and 1984. Timbers were replaced in 2019.

Operation

Rail service

Rail traffic is carried over the

swing bridge A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravity, about which the swing span (turning span) can then pi ...

when it is closed. Rail service is currently at capacity, having grown from 40,000 daily passengers in 2005 to 150,000 to 200,000 daily passengers in 2015 on approximately 450 daily trains for

and

New Jersey Transit New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit, and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey, along with portions of New York State and Pennsylvania. It operates bu ...

. , Amtrak operated some 293 scheduled trains a week in both directions (about 42 per day) over this segment of the

between

Newark Penn Station Pennsylvania Station (also known as Newark Penn Station) is an intermodal passenger station in Newark, New Jersey. One of the New York metropolitan area's major transportation hubs, Newark Penn Station is served by multiple rail and bus carriers, ...

and

New York Penn Station Pennsylvania Station, also known as New York Penn Station or simply Penn Station, is the main inter-city rail, intercity railroad station in New York City and the List of busiest railway stations in North America, busiest transportation facilit ...

. Five

rail lines (

Northeast Corridor Line The Northeast Corridor Line is a commuter rail service operated by NJ Transit between the Trenton Transit Center and New York Penn Station on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor in the United States. The service is the successor to Pennsylvania Railroad ...

North Jersey Coast Line The North Jersey Coast Line is a commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or com ...

Morris and Essex Lines The Morris & Essex Lines are a group of former Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad (DL&W) railroad lines in New Jersey now owned and operated by NJ Transit. The lines include service offered on the Morristown Line and the Gladstone Branch. P ...

Montclair-Boonton Line The Montclair-Boonton Line is a commuter rail line of New Jersey Transit Rail Operations in the United States. It is part of the Hoboken Division. The line is a consolidation of three individual lines: the former Delaware, Lackawanna & Western R ...

, and

Raritan Valley Line The Raritan Valley Line is a commuter rail service operated by New Jersey Transit (NJT) which serves passengers in municipalities in Union, Somerset, and Hunterdon counties in the Raritan Valley region in central New Jersey, United States. Th ...

) with 388 trains use the bridge each weekday in both directions.

River traffic

River traffic along the

can flow under the swing bridge when it is open. Schedules prohibit the Portal Bridge from opening weekdays 5 am to 10 am and 3 pm to 8 pm, during peak commuter travel periods over the bridge. At other times, the bridge opens on signal if a vessel gives two-hour notice, also in the hours leading up to peak periods, which can affect train schedules. When closed to river traffic, the bridge bears upon six wedge blocks. Two blocks are at each end of the bridge while two more sit adjacent to the center of the bridge. After the wedges are withdrawn the center-bearing supports the structure as the bridge is opened and returns it to its closed position once the river traffic has passed through one or both of the navigation channels. , the only regularly scheduled commercial traffic on the river was a barge transporting sludge from the

Bergen County Bergen County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Little Ferry to the

Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission The Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission (PVSC) is a regional wastewater utility located in Newark, New Jersey. Established in 1902, PVSC provides sewage treatment services to 1.5 million people in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen, Essex County, New ...

plant in

Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

. For the last four months of 2014, of the 90 times the bridge was opened, 75 were to provide service to the sludge barge. The bridge has caused numerous delays in train service in order to allow for river service, though Amtrak does not keep specific records of delays. All sludge had been trucked since 2016. In 2021, it was announced that the sludge barges would resume.

Operational issues

The Portal Bridge has been called the

Achilles' heel An Achilles' heel (or Achilles heel) is a weakness in spite of overall strength, which can lead to downfall. While the mythological origin refers to a physical vulnerability, idiomatic references to other attributes or qualities that can lead to ...

of the

for several reasons. Currently, the bridge limits train speeds to The bridge's lowest beams are just above the surface of the

high tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables can ...

. As a result, the bridge often has to be opened to allow commercial boats to pass underneath it, which causes more delays for both train and boat traffic. The Portal Bridge fails to close properly one out of seven times it opens, because the rails can fail to lock into place. In extreme cases, rail crews must bang the rails into place with

sledgehammer A sledgehammer is a tool with a large, flat, often metal head, attached to a long handle. The long handle combined with a heavy head allows the sledgehammer to gather momentum during a swing and apply a large force compared to hammers designed t ...

s before trains can cross. One report in 2019 estimated that the North River Tubes and the Portal Bridge contributed to 2,000 hours of delays between 2014 and 2018.

Accidents and incidents

1996 derailment

The bridge was site of a

derailment In rail transport, a derailment occurs when a rail vehicle such as a train comes off its rails. Although many derailments are minor, all result in temporary disruption of the proper operation of the railway system and they are a potentially ...

on November 23, 1996 when the

failed to close properly.

's northbound train #12, with twelve passenger and mail coaches pulled by two locomotives on a Washington-to-Boston run with 88 passengers and 20 crew members, derailed as it reached the bridge. It sideswiped the southbound , but continued across the bridge, prevented from plunging through the trestles into the river by guide rails that parallel the main tracks. Then its twin locomotives, a baggage car, and three passenger coaches plunged over an embankment. There were no deaths. Thirty-four people were hospitalized. The reason for the derailment was that a rail was 5 inches higher than it was supposed to be, and acted as a ramp. As a result of the derailment, the maximum speed on the bridge was lowered to , making the bridge a choke point for the entire

. The cost of the derailment was estimated at $3.6 million.

Fires

On May 13, 2005, the bridge caught on fire.

engineers believe that the 13kV overhead electrical wires overheated, sending shards of metal towards the

creosote Creosote is a category of carbonaceous chemicals formed by the distillation of various tars and pyrolysis of plant-derived material, such as wood or fossil fuel. They are typically used as preservatives or antiseptics. Some creosote types were ...

-covered wooden fenders at the base of the bridge. The immediate result of the fire was to block all traffic until the next morning. The cost of the incident was $5 million. On August 4, 2014, the bridge caught on fire, interrupting rail traffic for half an hour.

Replacement

Planning

The bridge requires millions of dollars of yearly maintenance. According to several officials, the bridge is considered a "choke-point" which reduces the potential speed and capacity of the line. These officials include U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (NJ); Drew Galloway,

Assistant V.P. of Planning and Development and the chief of Planning and Performance for the

;

Executive Director Richard Sarles. In December 2008, the

Federal Railroad Administration The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is an agency in the United States Department of Transportation (DOT). The agency was created by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966. The purpose of the FRA is to promulgate and enforce rail saf ...

approved a $1.34 billion project to replace the Portal Bridge with two new bridges: a three-track bridge to the north, and a two-track bridge to the south. The new bridges were then scheduled to be completed in 2017, at which time the Portal Bridge was to be dismantled. In course of design work the number of tracks on the north bridge has been reduced from three to two. Design work progressed in 2009 and 2010. In 2009, New Jersey applied for $38.5 million in funding for the replacement from the

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) (), nicknamed the Recovery Act, was a stimulus package enacted by the 111th U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in February 2009. Developed in response to the Gr ...

. On January 28, 2010, the federal funds were released as a TIGER grant as part of a larger package of $112 million for the entire

. The $38.5 million in federal funds were intended for final design for the new bridge. The original timeline for the project called for construction of the new bridge to begin in 2010, with the bridge replacement to be complete by 2017. Due to cancellation of the Access to the Region's Core project by New Jersey governor

Chris Christie Christopher James Christie (born September 6, 1962) is an American politician, lawyer, political commentator, lobbyist, and former federal prosecutor who served as the 55th governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. Christie, who was born in Ne ...

in 2010, as well to as funding issues, this original plan was reduced to a single two-track bridge constructed north of the current bridge with room for a new bridge south of the current bridge left open to follow. In 2014, design work for the new Portal Bridge North had been completed. The proposed Portal Bridge North would be a fixed span rising over above mean water level, and would allow train speeds of at least . The new bridge would be a part of the

—itself a partial replacement of the Access to the Region's Core—estimated to cost $13.5 billion. Preliminary site-preparation work for one span, Portal Bridge North, began in October 2017 and was expected to be complete in 2019.

Delays

Progress on the Portal Bridge North had stalled due to lack of funding. In April 2011, Amtrak applied for federal funding of $570 million for construction, with New Jersey expected to commit $150 million. , however, the project was lacking $940 million in funding. The

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ, is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate compact authorized ...

planned to contribute $300 million to the project.

Funding

In October 2015, a $16 million TIGER grant was awarded for use to support early construction activities such as realignment of a 138kV transmission monopole, constructing a temporary fiber optic cable pole line, building a finger pier construction access structure, a service access road and a 560-foot retaining wall. The work was completed in February 2019. , the expected schedule was for engineering phase to begin in 2017 and revenue service to start in 2024. In May 2017, NJ Transit awarded a contract to carry out this work. In June 2017, the Gateway Development Corporation formally applied for federal funding for the project. The

(FTA) approved the Environmental Impact Statement for the replacement bridge in August 2017. Construction on the first of two replacement bridges began in October 2017. Amtrak has estimated the cost of the bridge's replacement to be $1.5 billion. Jersey City, which owns a parcel originally earmarked for preservation and recreation, will sell it to make way for construction of the bridge. In June 2018, the State of New Jersey approved $600 million in bonds to finance the project. Despite state funding, the federal government withheld funds for the project. On June 24, 2019, the state governments of New York and New Jersey passed legislation to create the bi-state Gateway Development Commission, whose job it is to oversee the planning, funding, and construction of the rail tunnels and bridges of Gateway Program. In September 2019, NJ Transit submitted a revised plan to the federal government clarifying the "local" contribution, which includes funding from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Amtrak. On February 10, 2020, the replacement project was upgraded to "medium-high" priority by the FTA, thereby becoming eligible for funding under the Capital Investment Grants Program. Despite his skepticism of the Gateway Program, President Donald Trump signaled that he would not stand in the way of the Portal Bridge Replacement Project after dinner with New Jersey Governor

Phil Murphy Philip Dunton Murphy (born August 16, 1957) is an American financier, diplomat, and politician serving as the 56th governor of New Jersey since January 2018. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the United States ambassador to Germa ...

. In early July 2020, the FTA approved $767 million in funding for the project. In late May, Amtrak received $55 million from the same agency for the replacement bridge.

Construction

On October 12, 2021, the NJ Transit board awarded a $1.56 billion construction contract for the new bridge. The first track on the new bridge will be operational in November 2025. The second track will be operational in July 2026, with the project completed in 2027. Construction of the new bridge was given final approval to proceed in April 2022. After multiple delays, construction on the new bridge began on August 1, 2022.

References

External links

Amtrak - Portal North Bridge Project

"The Portal Bridge Link"
- Enhancement project newsletter, January 2007
NTSB Special Investigation Report regarding 1997 derailment

Movable Railroad Bridges of New Jersey-photo catalog

Record of Decision (2008)
- Federal Railroad Administration {{New Jersey Transit Rail Amtrak bridges Bridges completed in 1910 Bridges over the Hackensack River NJ Transit bridges Pennsylvania Railroad bridges Railroad bridges in New Jersey Swing bridges in the United States Bridges in Hudson County, New Jersey Steel bridges in the United States Pratt truss bridges in the United States Kearny, New Jersey Secaucus, New Jersey