NEW YORK — it’s normally a 34-minute run on an Amtrak Regional train from suburban Metropark station in New Jersey to New York’s Pennsylvania Station. Monday morning, a special Amtrak train made an 8-minute stop en route that isn’t on the timetable.
In this case, the delay was planned. The train was carrying a contingent of New Jersey politicians, providing an up-close look at Northeast Corridor infrastructure, with an emphasis on one of the aging North River Tunnel tubes beneath the Hudson River damaged by Hurricane Sandy.
On board the train, with ACS-64 locomotive 648, café car No.43589, and theater/track inspection car American View were New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, U.S. Sens. Cory Booker and Bob Menendez, eight New Jersey members of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly, Craig Coughlin, and over three dozen members of the media.
Afterward, Gov. Murphy and the other politicians held a press conference at NJ Transit’s Penn Station waiting area to press for federal support of the $13 billion Gateway Project, which would add a new tunnel under the Hudson.
“The rehabilitation of the existing North River Tunnel and construction of the new Hudson Tunnel is crucial to the tri-state area, and in particular New Jersey,” Murphy said. “It is time for the Trump administration to prioritize the needs of commuters and our nation’s economy and commit to funding the Gateway Program.”
The $13 billion Gateway Program will include the construction of a new tunnel, followed by repairs for the North River Tunnel, that will expand capacity for commuter and regional train service and alleviate pressure on the existing tunnel. According to Amtrak, any major repairs will require at least one tunnel tube to be closed, which will have catastrophic effects on the regional and national economies if the new tunnel is not constructed by that time.
“This is killing our region,” Booker said. “Anybody who’s faced the massive delays that we see on a regular basis knows this is undermining the quality of life for millions and millions of people. We need to move with a sense of urgency.” Menendez called the situation “a transportation ticking time bomb.”
An agreement reached under former President Barack Obama had pledged that the federal government would pay half the cost of the project, but President Donald Trump’s administration subsequently said there was no such deal, so the project remains unfunded. [See “Talk aside, action on Gateway tunnel still stalled,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 4, 2018.]
U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman said, “These tunnels are critical to keeping the entire Northeast corridor running smoothly. Unfortunately, they are also a perfect example of our nation’s crumbling and outdated infrastructure.”
Before reaching the tunnel, the train slowed to travel over the Portal Bridge over the Hackensack River. The two-track, moveable swing span, opened in 1910, has been a constant source of operating problems. In the last six years, Amtrak spent an average of $1.5 million per year to operate, maintain, and rehabilitate the existing Portal Bridge. Occasional malfunctions create delays for both Amtrak and NJ Transit. A $1.5 billion fixed-span bridge which would lift he tracks above marine traffic has been designed but is not yet fully funded, although New Jersey has pledged $600 million. [See “Tugboat strikes bridge, delays service for Amtrak, NJ Transit,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 14, 2018.]
The 108-year old North River Tunnel has been in disrepair and in dire need of replacement since Hurricane Sandy, when salt water flooded and damaged the tube. Amtrak Senior Vice President Stephen Gardner explained tunnel infrastructure to the lawmakers during the stop in the south tube. Current maintenance for the North River Tunnel varies. When crews are able to obtain a schedule window one of the North River Tunnel tubes, they perform as much maintenance as possible including leak remediation, repair or removal of broken and fragmented concrete from the Sandy-damaged bench walls, and other routine maintenance. Due to heavy train volume, track and tunnel outages are extremely complicated to schedule and coordinate. It costs about $7 million per year to keep the North River Tunnel tubes operating; as the tunnel continues to age and its condition deteriorates, operating and maintenance costs could reach an estimated $21 million by 2037.
Since NY & NJ have each committed to 25% of the money why don’t they get started so when the fed money becomes available the tunnnels will be well on their way. Some one was smarted enough to create 2 approach tubes under the new high rise construction over the west side yards..Without these there would be no way for the new tunnels to enter NY Penn station.
These tunnels are the central link in a passenger rail corridor which runs from southern Maine to points in Virginia. They are not simply a NJ-NY issue. The old tunnel project, which Gov. Christie cancelled, was a foolish joke and not nearly as comprehensive as the present project. There is no comparison between the two.
Steve and Curtis. I actually saw preliminary plans for the Madison train line.(This was when Jim Doyle was governor, before Walker was elected and killed the project.) I’m not talking about the economics – just the physical plans. I couldn’t see how the line would be viable. Nor could anyone else.
Walker continued every state-funded transit and train project in the entire state except this one. The Hiawatha continued to roll. Doyle’s plans to rebuild every station on the Hiawatha line, those not already completed, were finished. Local buses (supported by state transportation funds) kept rolling in Milwaukee, Kenosha, and Racine.
State-supported intercity buses such as the Badger Bus and Wisconsin Coach Lines kept their state subsidies.
He killed one train – the proposed Madison train – and he refused state funding for the Milwaukee street car. Smart and smart. For those two decisions, he deserved praise but got nothing but criticism.
My wife and I voted for Walker for Wisconsin State Assembly (R-Wauwatosa), Milwaukee County Executive, and (after we moved to Waukesha County) for Governor. We both agree he lost effectiveness in his second term and was defeated last November for a third term. He wasn’t perfect. He didn’t live up to his potential. Having said that, he at least left the state in reasonable condition for his Democrat successor, Tony Evers. That’s more than can be said that any recent president of USA (of either party) has left for his successor (of either party).
I actually met Scott Walker once. When he was non-partisan Milwaukee County Executive, he was invited to talk at a large non-political meeting here in Brookfield Township in Waukesha County. Part of his remarks were to criticize transit, kind of a dumb, not thought through blurb. After the talk, I rose to disagree with him.
On my way out he door, he caught up with me and shook my hand, thanking me for what I’d said. Right at that point I thought, this man is going to run for governor. As it turned out, I was right.
If Christy had not bailed everyone would be bashing him for agreeing to a lousy plan. Its going to be eventually done, hopefully the right way at a cost that doesn’t go through the roof.
I don’t remember the details about Walker’s decision. I do remember at the time that friends of mine [and the husband is a rail fan] that live in Madison as well as a local professor of Transportation [also a friend] didn’t think much of the plan proposed by his predecessor so I assume that plan had a lot wrong with it.
The $6 Billion that Obama gave Brown for his CA high speed pet project would have done far more good addressing the tunnel situation in the NYC area. If it had gone there maybe the tunnel projects would be underway by now.
John Degges, The photographer has set up on the wide tactile strip that is supposed to keep people 2 feet or better away from the platform edge. Granted it looks pretty dingy.
When you lose the New York tunnels it will be the tipping point of the USA. New Orleans will follow the same fate as it relies on failing infrastructure as well. Thrown a few natural disasters at the same time, like the Big One earthquake in a Blue state of Oregon and there will be not a United States Of America.
The ship is sinking, no one is bailing, too busy yelling about who will do the work.
The only salient issue here is that had gov. Christie not bailed, the tunnels could have started, and would be a good ways along, and the final route adjusted to the more logical “Gateway.” As with Wisc. gov. Walker the earmarked money committed “fungicide.”
I believe eventually this construction will occur but as someone from the rural areas, I would hope the Feds agree to a strict dollar amount based on the Feds estimate of costs and no more than one-third of the Fed projected cost. That way if it turns out to be another “big dig” the 2 state get stuck with all of the cost overruns. Actually, the trade off of a border wall and the other necessary security for this would be a good idea but only if NY & NJ can get Pelosi to budge which is very unlikely.
The ARC tunnel project had evolved by the time of its cancellation into a tragic boondoggle and was correctly cancelled by Chris Christie, although he sought to re-purpose the funding for highway construction. I am no fan of him, but this time he was right to kill a bad plan.
The ARC project, as originally envisioned, would have added through capacity at Penn Station and under the Hudson River redundancy, but in the end it had been hijacked by parochial New Jersey planners into two tracks terminating in a sub-basement stub terminal below Macy’s. The stub terminal planned there would have had no direct connection to the existing Penn Station, was so deep that the sole access was to be by elevator and there would be no thru line to the East River tunnels.
Worse the new ARC terminal’s capacity was so limited that many NJ Transit trains would still have had to serve the current station. And of course the Amtrak Hudson River tunnels would have remained un-rebuilt, as there would have been no access for Amtrak to the new ARC tunnels/station to permit even partial rebuilding of the 1910-era ex-Pennsy Amtrak bores.
The Gateway project addresses all of these issues.The real Penn Station gets four tracks/tunnels from New Jersey, thus allowing a phased one-bore at a time rebuilt of the two original tunnels. Added track and platform capacity is created at Penn Station and all four tunnels can be used for through service by Amtrak, NJ Transit and perhaps in the future Metro North and/or Long Island RR trains from Long Island, Westchester County and Connecticut points through Manhattan.Similarly Amtrak and NJ Transit might also serve Long Island.
Carl Fowler
Vice Chair, Rail Passengers Association (NARP)
Charles, Anna, et al. (there’s my Latin contribution for today) – Anna’s first paragraph is an accurate view of where the Republic stands today. I have given this some thought, and I think in the long view we are witnessing the inevitable decline of a great civilization, with scary parallels to other declines and falls throughout history. I honestly don’t think we will ever return to a “willingness to work together.” Rodney King didn’t have a chance of being heard. I joke to my friends that if Pearl Harbor were attacked tomorrow and the President went before Congress to declare a “day of infamy,” Pelosi and Schumer would be on TV telling us that it was a “manufactured crisis.” (If that’s a reductio ad absurdum, then there I go again) Sorry to go down this road once more.
Charles: “Let the games begin”…a reference to the Coliseum, and to the expected blast of invective I foresaw coming my way for having posted what I posted.
The above comments, etc.
Anna: Your post was well stated and of extraordinary importance (paragraphs one and two). It’s not just this project, is everything that’s in deep trouble. Any one of our problems is quite serious. Added together these problems are catastrophic.
I bugged out on high school Latin (paragraph three). Maybe something like “and” and “coming soon to a railroad near you” but I don’t know what “ludos” means.
And here we have an excellent example of the kind of paralysis which is holding us in its grip. Rather than attempting to solve ANY problem in a rational manner we have biased points of view, bunker mentalities, and zero-sum thinking.
Such behaviour is NOT what made America great. A willingness to work together is what made America great. It is not too late to come to full stop, each and every one of us take stock of what we are doing, and try again to come together for common cause.
Et ludos incipere.
The above comments are general in nature and do not form the basis for an attorney/client relationship. They do not constitute legal advice. I am not your attorney. Find your own damn lawyer.
From what I’ve read, the ARC project would only have benefited NJ Transit, not AMTRAK.
Lies? Are you serious? You think they can rehabilitate a 100 year old tunnel without shutting it down?
ALL OF THIS would be moot if REPUBLICAN Governor Christie hadn’t been stupid and cancelled the ARC project in 2010. That project would ow be nearly complete and no one would be talking about this.
All he did was kick the can down the road so that it will be more expensive. It didn’t change the fact that a new tunnel is desperately needed to increase capacity and repair the damage from Sandy.
Everyone should be blaming him for this debacle, particularly as he’s out and about preening on television, hawking his new book about Trump. What an idiot.
Charles – You beat me to almost the exact words I would have posted. So, New Jersey, New York pols, Speaker Pelosi, Sen. Schumer, all the Dems in clueless lockstep, here’s the way out. The tunnel for the wall. Propose it and see how the combatants line up. I’ll relax with a cool one and watch the show.
Can’t afford a border wall? Can’t afford a tunnel…
If a private company owned and had to repair this tunnel, they would find a way to do it with work windows and for far less. Just like none of the freight railroads had to shut down to install PTC, yet how many commuter lines have used that excuse. I’m tired of hearing these lies. No body cares about your damn commuter tunnel problem. You choose to live and work in a city that doesn’t have the means of sustaining itself, then don’t cry about your poor decisions.
Yes, Mr. Chandler, if there had been something sticking out from the train so as to hit one leg of the tripod, the man would have lost his camera.
I cannot see any band on the platform that warns people not to get too close to the track; has there been one there but has been obliterated by foot traffic? New structures have such warning bands built into the pavement.
Gerald – No I don’t call this a local problem. What I do call it is a failure of local leadership to work toward a national solution.
Many have already forgotten that Mr. Schumer and Mr. Trump had a verbal agreement that Trump would support the tunnel upgrade if Schumer supported the wall. Unfortunately, that didn’t go over very well with the then House Minority Whip and a few DNC supporters, so Schumer had to walk back the agreement. US government budgets are always about wheeling and dealing and compromise.
When Tip O’Neill was the House Speaker, the big dig in Boston always got what it needed, even with its massive overruns. Ted Kennedy made it happen in the Senate. When Reagan tried to cut it back, he ran into a very stubborn and recalcitrant Tip. They worked it out. Reagan got his defense spending as long as Tip got his big dig money and rest is history. Big Dig is done and the defense spending put the Soviets on their heels. (Reagan then took Tip out for a beer together)
The current Speaker of the House has nothing to gain from funding either a wall or a tunnel. In fact I don’t think anyone knows exactly what the current speaker wants in return for a compromise to be built.
Until then, no tunnel. No wall. No deal. When the Speaker informs everyone what the terms are, then something can be worked out.
There’s something here that most of saying it’s a local problem don’t realize, that Tri-State area accounts for 25% of our GDP every year(at a minimum, it’s actually closer to 33%). Those tunnels collapse and the resulting depression will make the 1929 crash and Depression look like a walk in the park. The vast majority of these infrastructure issues nationwide are not local issues as some like to believe, but they affect the much wider area than just the place they’re located in…also, some of you need to fact check yourself, the southern border “crisis” is not a national emergency like someone wants us to believe…now if you want to talk about a porous border just look northward. Plus, if a certain someone thinks the American public wants a wall…issue Wall Bonds and see just how much support it gets.
Gang: did anyone notice how dangerously close to the edge of the platform, the cameraman and his tripod are positioned? If it were a fan getting a picture with his Canon point and shoot, LE would certainly make it unpleasant. We all remember the tragic result this past year of a fan to close to the locomotive. Wonder if a safety officer was present ? Cheers
Mike – only a tiny fraction of the NYC area is dependent on the Hudson tunnels, so, yeah it would be an inconvenience if something happened the tunnels, but not a huge hit to the economy.
My feeling is I don’t mind federal dollars paying for infrastructure projects anywhere in the country – but I do mind my tax dollars paying for the operating costs after the infrastructure is built. The people who use public transportation should have to pay for the operating costs in full – that includes Amtrak, airlines, commuter rail, and yes, even the maintenance on the roadways.
Anyone who thinks that messed up rail commuting in the largest metro area in the US wouldn’t affect the US economy is highly mistaken. Because that’s what will happen if the 110 year old Penn Station tunnels are not augmented and repaired. GDP of the NY/NJ/CT area is $1.7 trillion. The total for the country is $19 trillion. So almost 10% of the US’ GDP is in this area.
And besides, federal contributions to large projects is standard and has been for a long time. I am happy that my federal taxes go to pay for projects that benefit other places. That’s why we live in ONE country and not fifty of them.
No doubt who pays for this is the biggest problem and nobody who is not in NY or NJ really wants the Feds to pay the lion”s share of this. I don’t have a dog in the fight and I have no doubt that the tunnels need to be replaced and I do feel that the feds should chip in after all the good people of NJ and NY pay fed taxes too. As for trading this for “wall funding” the president could have put this on the table last year when he came in office and still had the republicans in control of both houses of congress but did not so for that reason alone I don’t think it was that important. To go further on the wall, it would do minimal good for a lot of money and if I was going to be parochial I would say “I don’t live near the border so I don’t want to pay for it”. In reality the amount of illegal immigration across the border has been dropping every year and the drug cartels are not stopped by walls they just tunnel under the thing or do what they already do and smuggle drugs in by boat, plane or truck.