Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) secured a significant victory this week after the Department of Transportation agreed to award $6.88 billion to construct a second rail tunnel under the Hudson River — a project championed by Schumer and other Democrats.
The grant for New York City is the largest U.S. transit grant on record. Schumer said he would announce the grant in the city on Thursday, according to the New York Times. The Transportation Department will notify the Gateway Development Commission, the tunnel project's sponsor, this week, a White House aide confirmed.
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The two-rail tunnel is part of Gateway, a major infrastructure pet project of Schumer and the Biden administration for many years. It is expected to result in 72,000 jobs.
“This was the major hurdle, getting this kind of very large investment from the federal government, and here it is,” Schumer said. “This is real, and it means there’s no turning back now.”
Schumer has personally been pushing Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to release the tunnel from the "hostage" situation it has been held in since the Trump administration. Former President Donald Trump refused to fund the tunnel project, which was conceived in 2015, without also securing funding for a wall along the southern border with Mexico.
The new tunnel will enhance a pair of single-track tunnels that opened in 1910, and which are steadily deteriorating since Hurricane Sandy flooded them in 2012.
With the grant, the developers can begin constructing a tunnel that will run parallel to the old single tracks, a feat that is expected to cost $16 billion when the project is completed in 2035. Amtrak, which owns the current tunnels, will shut down the old tracks for repairs once the new tunnel is in use.
Govs. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) and Phil Murphy (D-NJ) agreed last year to split the cost of the tunnel project evenly, which helped boost their chances for federal funding. A signed deal between Gateway and the U.S. government is not expected to occur until next year, and the developers are still looking for additional assistance from other federal programs.
In January, the Biden administration awarded the tunnel project a $295 million grant, with the funds drawn from the $1.2 billion allocated under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed in 2021.
By the time the new tunnel is completed, analysts at Regional Plan Association forecast that "trans-Hudson travel" will likely be at or exceed pre-COVID-19 levels. The pandemic significantly reduced commuter travel over the last few years.
If one of the existing tracks is closed prior to the new tunnel's completion, Amtrak predicts train capacity between Penn Station and areas west of the Hudson River would be cut by 75% during rush hour. Schumer and Democrats said commercial activity would take a massive hit if this were to occur.
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“The Gateway program is an essential economic engine for New York and the nation,” Hochul said.
Murphy said in a statement that he would work with officials on Capitol Hill to secure “the remaining funding necessary to complete the most urgent infrastructure project in the country.”