Gateway project to build new Hudson River tunnels wins key federal approval
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Federal Railroad Administration officials approved a Record of Decision Friday for the Environmental Impact Study for the tunnel project between New Jersey and New York, that’s part of the larger Gateway Project. That will allow rehabilitation of the existing 110-year-old tunnels currently used by 450-plus Amtrak and NJ Transit trains a day.
The decision allows significant work to begin on a tunnel project that has been sought since October 2014 when an Amtrak engineering study that found the original 1910-era tunnels built by the Pennsylvania Railroad were on borrowed time. Flooding from Hurricane Sandy in October 2012 and the wear and tear of a century of use meant new tunnels needed to be built so the old tunnels could be taken out of service, gutted and renovated.