A long-delayed plan to build new train tunnels across the Hudson River is locked in beyond the reach of possible Republican attempts to undo it after federal officials awarded the project nearly $7 billion, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday.
The announcement of a $6.88 billion federal grant for the Hudson River train tunnel project is the largest federal transportation grant ever, and the largest single transportation grant ever given to New York state. The tunnel will connect New York and New Jersey and is a key part of a regional Gateway infrastructure program to improve passenger rail in the Northeast.
“The dollars are there and Gateway will get done,” Schumer, a New York Democrat, said during a press conference at a Manhattan railyard.
Schumer acknowledged he was rushing to lock in the project before the 2024 elections. With this money in hand, Schumer said, even if Democrats lose control of the Senate and Donald Trump or another Republican hostile to the project becomes president, the money cannot easily be taken back and the $17 billion tunnel project will survive. To rescind federal grant money would require a supermajority in Congress, something that Schumer said “will not happen.”
During the Trump administration, the president suggested he might support the project if Schumer would help him build a wall across the Mexican border — an obvious no-go for Democrats at the time. Now, though, there are some signs that Republicans have moved on from trying to kill the project and instead are focused on containing its costs. Still, supporters of the tunnels on both sides of the Hudson are breathing a sigh of relief after months of anxiety about when the money would come.
Already, there are some cost overruns, though Schumer and others have blamed them on delays during Trump’s time in office.
New York and New Jersey may have to pony up several billion dollars apiece to build the project, though officials are trying to get more federal money to lower each state’s share of the project’s total costs. Construction on the tunnels themselves will begin next summer, though some needed construction along the shores of the Hudson River is happening this year.
Schumer has nurtured the project for years, along with some New Jersey officials like Sen. Bob Menendez, a fellow Democrat. Together, they brought the tunnel project back to life after New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie killed off a prior version of it a decade ago.
President Joe Biden, widely known for his love and use of trains, is a major supporter of the Gateway suite of projects and money for the tunnels comes from a bipartisan infrastructure law.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul called Schumer on Thursday to congratulate him about the money. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, who also supports the project, said in a statement that the money marked a “pivotal benchmark."
According to the bi-state Gateway Development Commission, which is overseeing the project, the $6.88 billion will come in the form of Federal Transit Administration capital investment grants. The commission also expects to receive about $4 billion from other federal grants.
