Gateway to Reliability: The Hudson Tunnel Project

Critical upgrades are underway to replace a network of tunnels that are more than a century old and serve the most heavily used passenger rail line in the U.S.

The Hudson Tunnel Project (HTP) is a new four-and-a-half-mile transit alignment adjacent to Amtrak’s existing Northeast Corridor (NEC), starting east of Secaucus Junction Station in New Jersey and continuing under the Hudson River to Manhattan’s Penn Station.

The new twin tunnels will provide operational flexibility to rehabilitate the existing North River Tunnels one at a time. Once both existing North River Tunnels are rehabilitated, the NEC rail network will have two sets of twin tunnels west from Penn Station.

The Gateway Development Commission (GDC) is the bi-state authority charged with delivering the HTP. This project is the cornerstone of Amtrak’s Gateway Program, a comprehensive plan to significantly improve and modernize the 10-mile segment of the Northeast Corridor between Newark, New Jersey and New York’s Penn Station.

This is a reliability project, not a capacity enhancement project. It is to prevent both chronic delays and an extended disruption of tunnel traffic caused by natural or manmade disaster that would otherwise result in devastating local, regional and national economic impacts.

Drew Bazil Senior Vice President, WSP in the U.S.

Drew Bazil Senior Vice President, WSP in the U.S.

Location

New York, USA

Client

Gateway Development Commission

Project Value

$16 billion

Project Status

Ongoing, targeted for 2035 completion

Project Scope

The project will build nine miles of new rail track between New York and New Jersey.

Reliability Is Priority One

The hundreds of thousands of daily passengers who rely on the North River Tunnels have long faced chronic delays due to the tunnel’s aging infrastructure and antiquated design. Reliability through the tunnel was further compromised by the storm surge from Superstorm Sandy in 2012, which infiltrated the tunnels and caused significant flooding damage.

Water crested above the Manhattan bulkhead and 12th Avenue, pouring into Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) West Rail Yard, spilling down an existing ramp used by LIRR commuter trains into and out of Penn Station. The water then travelled westward into the existing Amtrak North River Tunnels under the Hudson River.

This event cancelled NEC passenger rail service for five days and left behind residual chlorides and sulfates that caused detrimental damage to the tunnel infrastructure and multiple rail systems. In the flooded tunnels, brackish water corroded the mechanical and electrical rail systems and infiltrated cracks within the reinforced concrete bench walkways, further corroding the reinforcing steel which accelerated rust of the rebar and spalling of the concrete.

The HTP will ensure this doesn’t happen again, and that long-term rail service disruption is avoided.

“There are floodgates being designed within the new tunnels,” said Drew Bazil, senior vice president and project manager for WSP in the U.S. “The requirement for flood mitigation is to make sure that large amounts of water are prohibited from another storm surge entering either end of the new tunnel portals.”

Once the new tunnels open, GDC will take the existing tunnels out of service, one at a time, to perform major rehabilitation. This process will provide three active tunnels until all work is completed, at which time four tunnels will support rail traffic and provide improved reliability, resilience and redundancy.

Construction site for the Hudson River Ground Stabilization Project, looking east toward Manhattan (Contract EA1).

©WSP/DREW BAZIL

Leading Planning and Design

WSP is the lead firm for the Gateway Trans-Hudson Partnership (GTHP), a joint venture with AECOM and STV serving as engineer of record for the design phases of the project and providing multiple engineering services during construction phases.

We have been involved since 2010 on this project, performing the initial alignment feasibility study for Amtrak and preparing conceptual engineering for a future higher-speed alignment into Penn Station. Since 2016 we have provided engineering support for the environmental impact statement (EIS) and preliminary engineering design services specifically for the HTP. The final EIS and record of decision was granted by the Federal Railroad Administration in May 2021.

“This is a major, consequential project, consisting of miles of tunnels, surface infrastructure, three fan plants, underpinning existing structures … you name it,” Bazil said. “The project is split into multiple construction contracts. Each contract could be considered a stand-alone project due to the complication and magnitude of scope within each respective contract.”

The following contract packages are currently under construction.

Tonnelle Avenue Bridge

Construction of Tonnelle Avenue Bridge (Contract P4) in North Bergen, New Jersey began in October 2023 and is expected to be substantially complete before the end of 2025. The new bridge structure will allow trains to pass below Tonnelle Avenue.

This also serves as a critical staging site to launch tunnel boring machines (TBMs) to construct the Palisades Tunnels from the tunnel portal to Hoboken.

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Shoring work on the eastern side of the Tonnelle Avenue site (Contract P4).

©GATEWAY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION

Palisades Tunnels

Palisades Tunnels (Contract P1A) consists of a mile of twin bored tunnels—with an internal tunnel diameter of 25 feet, 2 inches—through some of the strongest rock in the region. The project team is constructing a tunnel portal adjacent to Tonnelle Avenue, prepping for construction of a 130-foot diameter construction shaft in Hoboken by means of slurry walls into rock, which will receive the two TBMs as they make their way deep below North Bergen and Union City.

The TBMs will be delivered to the site and assembled before they begin their underground journey in early 2026. Construction began in August 2024 and completion is expected in 2027.

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Large floating construction barges in the river allow for in-water work on the Hudson River Ground Stabilization Project.

©GATEWAY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION

Hudson River Ground Stabilization

The Hudson River Ground Stabilization (HRGS Contract EA1) is located within the Hudson River on the Manhattan side. It involves approximately 1,200 linear feet of multiple deep soil mixed columns consisting of cement with saturated in-situ soil below the mudline of the Hudson River, to create a hardened soil that ensures safe tunnel mining.

“We’re improving the existing qualities of the ground to accommodate TBMs that will bore below the Hudson River through that modified and strengthened ground,” Bazil said. “Temporary cofferdams have been constructed, which contain the spoils of the deep soil mixing operation to prevent contamination of the Hudson River. All construction occurs from barges on the river.”

Construction began in March 2024 and completion is expected in 2027.

Manhattan Tunnels

New tunnel infrastructure in Manhattan (Contract P1B) will be created using a large 130-foot diameter construction shaft within property acquired by Amtrak between West 30th and West 29th Streets and east of 12th Avenue.

“The goal is to reduce tunneling risk by clearing the path of any obstructions within the tunnel horizon before TBMs are launched from the Hudson County shaft and received by the 12th Avenue shaft,” Bazil said.

There is constant coordination with stakeholders and the neighborhood, including Community Board No. 4, Hudson River Park Trust, Friends of the High Line, New York State Department of Transportation, NYC Department of Transportation, NYC Department of Environmental Protection, Con Edison and other utility agencies.

Construction began in February 2025 and completion is expected in 2029.

The Manhattan Tunnels are one of the most technically and logistically challenging contracts within the Hudson Tunnel Project.

Drew Bazil

Drew Bazil

Hudson Yards Concrete Casing

One critical HTP component is Hudson Yard Concrete Casing Section 3 (HYCC-3 Contract P0), a short but complex cut-and-cover tunnel for the New York-side construction that stretches underneath Manhattan’s popular High Line elevated park along West 30th Street and diagonally through LIRR’s West Rail Yard, terminating at the west side of 11th Avenue.

The High Line park columns have been underpinned and temporarily supported by the excavation system and will eventually be permanently supported by the tunnel’s massive roof.

This 500-foot-long tunnel structure is composed of heavily reinforced concrete ranging from 3.5 feet to 10 feet in thickness, 60 feet wide and 60 feet high. It will connect to cut-and-cover tunnels previously designed and constructed by Amtrak within the East Rail Yard and under 11th Avenue.

The HYCC-3 tunnel is a key connection between the Manhattan Tunnel and Penn Station. Construction began in November 2023 and is expected to conclude in 2026.

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Hudson Yards Concrete Casing – Section 3 (HYCC-3 Contract P0) site, the LIRR utility building is demolished and relocated to make way for the new tunnel, a major construction milestone.

Meet the Visioneer

Over the past 15 years, Drew Bazil has been a critical voice within the Hudson Tunnel project. As project manager since 2023, he continues to serve as a leader and a champion for the initiative that will transform a practical vision of a more reliable and resilient connection into reality.