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 and New York Penn Station (NYP). The project would build new rail bridges in the New Jersey Meadowlands and new tunnels under Bergen Hill (Hudson Palisades) and the Hudson River, along with fully rehabilitating the existing tunnel built in 1910, and construct a new terminal annex.

The existing two-track rail line used by both Amtrak and NJ Transit Rail Operations (NJT) has reached its full capacity of 24 trains per hour. Once completed, the improvements would double train capacity across the Hudson River to 48 trains per hour, allowing for additional high-speed rail service. Gateway was unveiled in 2011, one year after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's cancellation of the somewhat similar Access to the Region's Core (ARC) project; Some previously planned improvements already underway were incorporated into the Gateway program. New construction of a "tunnel box" that would preserve the right-of-way on Manhattan's West Side began in September 2013, using $185 million in recovery and resilience funding from Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

The need for the Gateway Program increased after Hurricane Sandy damaged the existing North River tunnels. A draft environmental impact statement for the Gateway Program was released in July 2017. Funding for the project had been unclear for several years due to a lack of funding commitments from state and federal government. The project was formally approved by the federal government in May 2021 and final regulatory approval was given that December, with work to commence in 2023.

Announcement and initial phases

The Gateway Project was unveiled on February 7, 2011, by Amtrak President Joseph H. Boardman and New Jersey Senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez. The announcement also included endorsements from New York Senator Charles Schumer and Amtrak's Board of Directors. Officials said Amtrak would take the lead in seeking financing; a list of potential sources included the states of New York and New Jersey, the City of New York, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ), and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) as well as private investors.

By late 2011, two parts of the project were underway: the replacement of the Portal Bridge over the Hackensack River and the development of Moynihan Train Hall in Manhattan. Environmental impact statements had been completed and the design and engineering of the new bridges had begun. The ceremonial groundbreaking of the first phase of the conversion of the James Farley Post Office to the new Moynihan Train Hall took place in October 2010. Some funding for the projects comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Background

Right-of-way

The right-of-way was originally developed by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) in conjunction with the 1910 opening of New York's Pennsylvania Station, which required the construction of the Portal Bridge over the Hackensack River and the North River Tunnels under the Hudson Palisades and Hudson River. The following year the Manhattan Transfer station was opened in the Kearny Meadows to allow changes between steam and electric locomotives. This also provided for passenger transfers to/from its former main terminal at Exchange Place in Jersey City or the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad (H&M), the forerunner of today's Port Authority Trans Hudson (PATH). The Dock Bridge over the Passaic River was opened in conjunction with adjacent new Newark Penn Station in 1935. In 1937, the H&M was extended over a second span, making the transfer in the meadows redundant.

In 1949, the PRR discontinued its ferry system on the Hudson, and in 1961, it closed its Exchange Place station. In 1962, it agreed to the demolition of its Manhattan station in exchange for a smaller one under a new Madison Square Garden. In 1967, the Aldene Plan was implemented, requiring the floundering Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ), Reading (RDG), and Lehigh Valley (LV) railroads, to travel into Newark Penn with continuing service to New York Penn. The following year the PRR merged with New York Central (NYC), but the new Penn Central (PC) declared bankruptcy on June 21, 1970. In 1976, its long-distance service (including part of today's Northeast Corridor and Empire Corridor) was taken over by Amtrak, which had been founded in 1971. Conrail was created in 1976 to bail out numerous Northeast railroads, including the commuter service on the CNJ and the LV. In 1983, when the corporation divested its passenger rail operations, they were taken over by New Jersey Transit (NJT), which had been created in 1979 to operate much of the state's bus system.

In 1991, New Jersey Transit opened the Waterfront Connection, extending service on some non-electrified trains which had previously terminated at Newark Penn Station to Hoboken. In 1996, it began its Midtown Direct service, rerouting some trains from the west which previously terminated at Hoboken Terminal to New York Penn. Secaucus Junction was opened in 2003, allowing passengers travelling from the north to transfer to Northeast Corridor Line, North Jersey Coast Line, or Midtown Direct trains, though not to Amtrak, which does not stop there. Between 1976 and 2010, the number of New Jersey Transit weekday trains crossing the Hudson using the North River Tunnels (under contract with Amtrak) increased from 147 to 438.

Trans-Hudson crossings

The Northeast Corridor is the most heavily traveled railway in the United States, and is the only rail line that travels under the Hudson River and through New York City. The other rail system crossing the Hudson was developed by the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad, partially in conjunction with the PRR, and taken over by PANYNJ in 1962, who rebranded the H&M as the PATH, a rapid transit system. Direct trans-Hudson rail service to Lower Manhattan from Newark Penn is provided by PATH with additional terminals at World Trade Center and Herald Square in Manhattan, and at Hoboken Terminal and Journal Square in Hudson County, New Jersey. In 1971 New Jersey Governor William T. Cahill proposed constructing another rail tunnel from Weehawken, New Jersey to 48th Street in Midtown Manhattan.

There are three vehicular crossings of the lower Hudson River. The Holland Tunnel, opened in 1927, is minimally used for public transportation and connects Jersey City, New Jersey, to lower Manhattan. The George Washington Bridge, opened in 1931, is used by suburban buses to GWB Bus Terminal, and connects Fort Lee, New Jersey, to upper Manhattan. Its lower level, opened in 1962, is the last new river crossing. The Lincoln Tunnel, composed of three tubes opened in 1937, 1945, and 1954, connects Weehawken, New Jersey, to Midtown Manhattan. More than 6,000 bus trips are made through the tunnel and bus terminal daily. Its eastern terminus is connected via ramps to the Port Authority Bus Terminal, the gateway for most NJT bus traffic entering Manhattan. Despite the Lincoln Tunnel XBL (express bus lane) during the morning peak there are often long delays due to traffic congestion and the limited capacity of the bus terminal.

Access to the Region's Core

Launched in 1995 by PANYNJ, NJT, and MTA, Access to the Region's Core (ARC) was a Major Investment Study that looked at public transportation ideas for the New York metropolitan area. It found that long-term goals would best be met by better connections to and in-between the region's major rail stations in Midtown Manhattan, Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal. The East Side Access project, including tunnels under the East River and the East Side of Manhattan, which would divert some LIRR traffic to Grand Central, is expected to be completed in December 2022.

The Trans-Hudson Express Tunnel or THE Tunnel, which later took on the name of the study itself, was meant to address the western, or Hudson River, crossing. Engineering studies determined that structural interferences made a new terminal connected to Grand Central or the current Penn Station unfeasible and its final design involved boring under the current rail yard to a new deep cavern terminal station under 34th Street.New Jersey Transit (October 2008). Newark, NJ
"Access to the Region's Core: Final Environmental Impact Study."
Executive Summary. While Amtrak had acknowledged that the region represented a bottleneck in the national system and had originally planned to complete work by 2040, its timetable for beginning the project was advanced in part due to the cancellation of ARC, a project similar in scope, but with differences in design. That project, which did not include direct Amtrak participation, was cancelled in October 2010 by New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who cited potential cost overruns. Amtrak briefly engaged the governor in attempt to revive the ARC Tunnel and use preliminary work done for it, but those negotiations soon broke down. Amtrak said it was not interested in purchasing any of the work. Senator Menendez later said some preparatory work done for ARC may be used for the new project. Costs for the project were $117 million for preliminary engineering, $126 million for final design, $15 million for construction and $178 million real estate property rights ($28 million in New Jersey and $150 million in New York City). Additionally, a $161 million partially refundable pre-payment of insurance premiums was also made.

Funding and start of construction

Projected costs

In 2011, the project was projected to cost $13.5 billion and finish in 2020. In April 2011, Amtrak asked that $1.3 billion in United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) funding for NEC rail corridor improvements be allocated to Gateway and related projects.
In November 2011, Congress allocated $15 million for engineering work.

In 2012, revised projections put the cost at $14.5 billion and completion date at 2025. In April 2012, the U.S. Senate appropriations subcommittee on transportation proposed to provide another $20 million; that awaits further congressional approval.

While New Jersey officials have said the state will pay its "fair share" of the project, they have committed to no specific dollar amount. In 2013, it was estimated New Jersey's contribution would be between $3 and 5 billion. The source of further funding remains unclear. The state had planned to spend some $600 million on Access to the Region's Core; some of the completed design and engineering work has been used by Amtrak to develop the Gateway Project.

In September 2012, Schumer estimated that the project would need $20 million in 2013 and $100 million in 2014 to keep it from dying.

In December 2012, Amtrak requested $276 million from Congress to upgrade infrastructure damaged by Hurricane Sandy that would also eventually support trains run along the new Gateway Project right-of-way. That earmark funding, which had been revised to $188 million, was deleted from the legislation. However, the United States Department of Transportation provided $185 million from its portion of these Sandy relief and resiliency funds to build the "tunnel box" under the Hudson Yards redevelopment project and rebuild an overlapping Maintenance of Equipment building for the Long Island Rail Road.

In July 2017, the projected cost for the new tunnels under the Hudson River and for the repair of the North River Tunnels increased to $12.9 billion, up from a previous estimate of $7 to 10 billion.

In August 2021, projected costs for construction of the new tunnels and repair of the existing North River Tunnels was revised to $12.3 billion in a financial plan submitted on behalf of the Gateway Development Commission. The States of New York and New Jersey identified their sources of funding for the project, and Amtrak increased its contribution to the project. Early in 2022, the FTA upgraded the rating for the sought Federal Grant share of the tunnel to project, making it eligible for funding. In July 2022, the governors of New York and New Jersey signed a memorandum in which the two states' governments agreed to share the cost of the project. By that August, the projected cost of the tunnels and related projects had increased to $16.1 billion.

Development corporation and commission

In November 2015, Amtrak, U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Chuck Schumer, and Governors Christie and Cuomo announced that a new Gateway Development Corporation would be created to oversee the project with the federal government paying for 50% of its costs and the states sharing the rest. The Gateway Development Corporation will be formed under the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The corporation board will be composed of PANYNJ board members from both states, the USDOT, and Amtrak. Staff will be provided by the PANYNJ and Amtrak. The corporation will oversee planning, environmental, design, engineering and construction work. It would also seek federal grants and apply for loans. It remains unclear how the money will be raised.

In December 2015 new federal legislation was introduced allowing Amtrak to operate the NEC as a financially separate entity, thus able to re-invest profits from the line into new infrastructure. The legislation also provided for more low interest loans through changes in the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing and Capital Investment Grant (New Starts) federal funding programs. In March 2016, Amtrak and PANYNJ committed $35 million each for design and engineering work. Additional funding has not been identified.

The group met for the first time on January 12, 2017. On June 30, 2017, the U.S. Department of Transportation sent a letter to the Gateway Development Corporation permanently withdrawing from its board of trustees. Shortly afterward, the draft Environmental Impact Study for the project was issued.

The creation of a new bi-state agency to potentially oversee the project required identical legislation in both New York and New Jersey legislatures. 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. This bill stipulates that each state is responsible for 50% of the funding and creates standards for transparency and accountability. The Commission is capable of receiving funds from federal, state, and local sources. The Commission's first CEO, Kris Kolluri, was nominated by New York governor Kathy Hochul and New Jersey governor Phil Murphy in early 2022.

Federal funding

The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama called Gateway the most vital piece of infrastructure that needs to be built in the United States. In a September 2015 joint letter to Obama, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo offered to pay half of the project's cost if the federal government picks up the rest, but did not identify how they would fund it. Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Chairman John J. Degnan said in May 2015 that the agency "would step up to the plate" with regard to funding the project. The governors have asked the agency to oversee the project. The administration of President Donald Trump cast doubts about funding for the project, and Trump suggested defunding the FTA's New Starts program for all new projects. In 2017 then-United States Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao called the project "an absolute priority".

In September 2017, $900 million was allocated for the project in a House of Representatives spending bill. Following the passage of this allocation, 155 Republican and four Democratic representatives co-sponsored a proposed amendment that would take away that funding. One co-sponsor of the amendment, North Carolina Republican Ted Budd, said that "North Carolina and the other 48 states should not have to foot the bill for this hall of fame earmark." Bipartisan groups of representatives from New Jersey disagreed. Rodney Frelinghuysen, a Republican, said: "The people of Texas, victims of an historic storm (Hurricane Harvey), need additional federal disaster assistance. The people of New Jersey need a safe and well-functioning transportation infrastructure. I intend to continue to fight for both." Bonnie Watson Coleman, a Democrat, stated: "I support restoring the funding that the Trump administration has sought to cut from the New Starts program, but I certainly oppose it coming at the expense of the Gateway project."

On December 14, 2017, Governor Chris Christie committed $1.9 billion, New Jersey's share of the tunnel cost. However, on December 29, 2017, multiple news sources published a letter from a top Federal Transit Administration official who stated that the Gateway Program was a "local" project, thereby putting federal funding for the project in doubt.

In March 2018, Trump talked with U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin, in an effort to get other Congressional Republicans to oppose federal funding for the Gateway Program in the omnibus spending bill that was then being worked on. However, when the Consolidated Appropriations Act was signed on March 23, 2018, it provided $2.9 billion to discretionary grant programs, which Amtrak and its partners could potentially use to begin financing the project. Democrats said that the bill would provide as much as $541 million in the 2018 fiscal year as well as making Gateway eligible to compete for additional funding with other transportation projects. The bill allocated $650 million to Amtrak for improvements to the Northeast Corridor, of which Amtrak planned to spend $388 million directly on the Gateway Program. Another $153 million would come from FTA grants, comprising the rest of the $541 million that would be made available. In June 2018, the State of New Jersey approved $600 million in bonds to finance the Portal Bridge part of the project. In its 2020 budget, the Trump administration cut funding for the Gateway Program by half, from $650 to $325 million.

With the inauguration of Joe Biden as U.S. President in January 2021, discussion resumed on the Gateway Program. Schumer, who had become the Senate majority leader, said that month that he was working with Pete Buttigieg, the Transportation Secretary of Biden's administration, to allocate $12 billion to the project. Buttigieg supported the project, saying, "This is a regional issue, but one of national significance."

Final approval

On May 28, 2021, the project was formally approved by the federal government. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, passed in November 2021, appropriated billions in funds for the Gateway Project and other upgrades to the Northeast Corridor. The next month, the United States Army Corps of Engineers gave final approval. On August 31, 2022, the Gateway Development Commission announced that the new tunnels would be completed in 2035 and that the existing North River Tunnels would be rehabilitated by 2038. The project will use federal funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, with the balance provided by the states of New Jersey and New York.

In July 2022, New Jersey officials and New York officials each agreed to pay 25 percent of the project's cost; under the agreement, federal officials would pay 50 percent. The New Jersey Turnpike Authority agreed to help fund New Jersey's portion of the project in December 2022. The same month, Schumer said construction on the project would commence in 2023 with $292 million in federal funding.

Existing and new infrastructure along right of way

The current route, about long, includes infrastructure that is more than 100 years old. The system operates at capacity during peak hours—24 trains per hour—and limits speed for safety reasons. The new route would run parallel to the current right-of-way, enabling dispatching alternatives, potential speed increases, and up to 24 more trains per hour.

Newark Penn, Dock Bridge, and Harrison PATH station

Six tracks connect Newark Penn Station and the adjacent Dock Bridge over the Passaic River at . The station and the west span of the bridge, carrying three tracks, were built in 1935. The east span, opened in 1937, carries one outbound track, and the two Port Authority Trans Hudson (PATH) rapid transit tracks entering and leaving the station. The bridge, owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ), underwent repairs as recently as 2009. To the northeast lies the PATH's Harrison station. Between the bridge and the station Amtrak and NJT trains are aligned on three center tracks to pass through it, with the PATH using side platforms. While not part of the Gateway Project, the station itself is undergoing a $173 million reconstruction and expansion funded by the PANYNJ which owns and operates the PATH. Passenger use is expected to grow as the area develops; it already includes the Red Bull Arena. Maps for the Gateway Project indicate that a fourth track for the NEC will be added through the station.

Sawtooth Bridges-Kearny Meadows

At the Sawtooth Bridges at east of the former Manhattan Transfer, the rights-of-way of Amtrak, and PATH, and several NJT lines converge and run parallel to each other. While there is no junction with PATH, NJT trains can switch tracks, depending on their terminal of origination or destination, enabling Midtown Direct trains on the Morris and Essex Lines to join or depart the Northeast Corridor. The single track limited-use Waterfront Connection connects some lines using diesel trains on Hoboken Terminal trips with the NEC to the west. Plans call for replacement of the bridges and expansion from two to four tracks, requiring the construction of bridges in the Kearny Meadows at Newark Turnpike and Belleville Turnpike.

Portal Bridge

The 1910 Portal Bridge at , a two-track, rail-only, swing bridge over the Hackensack River between Kearny and Secaucus

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