New Jersey's two Democratic senators, Frank R. Lautenberg and Robert Menendez, lined up yesterday with Amtrak officials in an effort to revive the idea of a trans-Hudson train tunnel after Gov. Chris Christie upset them by halting construction on the one that New Jersey Transit started to build last year, according to an article by Patrick McGeehan in today's edition of The New York Times.
"Simply put, Amtrak isn't accepting the status quo, and neither will I," Mr. Lautenberg said during a news conference a block from New Jersey Transit's headquarters in downtown Newark.
No representatives of New Jersey Transit or Governor Christie's office spoke at the announcement, nor did any representatives from New York, the article said, adding that "Mr. Lautenberg said neither he nor Mr. Menendez had broached the idea with the governor. But later in Trenton, Mr. Christie, a Republican, said the proposal had vindicated his decision to kill the previous project because New Jersey would ultimately benefit from a tunnel project led by a federal agency. 'I'm happy at the appropriate time to sit down with the folks who are in charge of it to see what role, if any, the State of New Jersey might be able to play to help it along,' Mr. Christie said. But, he added, 'If they asked me for a check today, the answer is no.'"
The proposal that the senators and Amtrak officials outlined was preliminary, and they acknowledged that they had not arranged any of the local or federal financing that the project would require, the article said, adding that "at an estimated cost of $13.5 billion, the Amtrak tunnel plan would be even more expensive than the one Mr. Christie scrapped late last year, saying it would cost the state too much. But the proponents of the new tunnel said it would be an improvement over the previous project because it would provide access to Pennsylvania Station in Midtown to high-speed trains running between Boston and Washington, as well as commuter trains from New Jersey."
"The previous tunnel project had been estimated to cost $8.7 billion," according to the article, "and would have doubled the capacity for commuter trains crossing the river. The federal government and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey had each committed $3 billion, but most, if not all, of that money is no longer available, people involved in the planning said. Amtrak officials said Monday that they would seek $50 million from Mr. Obama's impending federal budget to pay engineers to study the feasibility of the new tunnel plan. Amtrak's chief executive, Joseph H. Boardman, said Monday that Amtrak was willing to take the lead on the new proposal even though Republican leaders in Congress wanted the agency to yield the development of high-speed rails to others. The Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington is generally considered the area where high-speed trains would draw the most riders. But the infrastructure along that corridor is well past its expected life. The only train tunnels connecting New York City to points west are two single-track tubes under the Hudson that are 100 years old."
Amtrak's proposed project would supplement those tunnels with another pair that would carry trains in and out of an expanded Penn Station, the article said, adding that "if the high-speed tunnel were built, Penn Station would have to be expanded one block to the south between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, and various properties would have to be seized."
"Simply put, Amtrak isn't accepting the status quo, and neither will I," Mr. Lautenberg said during a news conference a block from New Jersey Transit's headquarters in downtown Newark.
No representatives of New Jersey Transit or Governor Christie's office spoke at the announcement, nor did any representatives from New York, the article said, adding that "Mr. Lautenberg said neither he nor Mr. Menendez had broached the idea with the governor. But later in Trenton, Mr. Christie, a Republican, said the proposal had vindicated his decision to kill the previous project because New Jersey would ultimately benefit from a tunnel project led by a federal agency. 'I'm happy at the appropriate time to sit down with the folks who are in charge of it to see what role, if any, the State of New Jersey might be able to play to help it along,' Mr. Christie said. But, he added, 'If they asked me for a check today, the answer is no.'"
The proposal that the senators and Amtrak officials outlined was preliminary, and they acknowledged that they had not arranged any of the local or federal financing that the project would require, the article said, adding that "at an estimated cost of $13.5 billion, the Amtrak tunnel plan would be even more expensive than the one Mr. Christie scrapped late last year, saying it would cost the state too much. But the proponents of the new tunnel said it would be an improvement over the previous project because it would provide access to Pennsylvania Station in Midtown to high-speed trains running between Boston and Washington, as well as commuter trains from New Jersey."
"The previous tunnel project had been estimated to cost $8.7 billion," according to the article, "and would have doubled the capacity for commuter trains crossing the river. The federal government and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey had each committed $3 billion, but most, if not all, of that money is no longer available, people involved in the planning said. Amtrak officials said Monday that they would seek $50 million from Mr. Obama's impending federal budget to pay engineers to study the feasibility of the new tunnel plan. Amtrak's chief executive, Joseph H. Boardman, said Monday that Amtrak was willing to take the lead on the new proposal even though Republican leaders in Congress wanted the agency to yield the development of high-speed rails to others. The Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington is generally considered the area where high-speed trains would draw the most riders. But the infrastructure along that corridor is well past its expected life. The only train tunnels connecting New York City to points west are two single-track tubes under the Hudson that are 100 years old."
Amtrak's proposed project would supplement those tunnels with another pair that would carry trains in and out of an expanded Penn Station, the article said, adding that "if the high-speed tunnel were built, Penn Station would have to be expanded one block to the south between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, and various properties would have to be seized."
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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