NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Train commutes from New Jersey to New York could get worse before they get better as funding for the Gateway Tunnel Project remains in limbo.
Funding for the project, which would build two new rail tunnels under the Hudson River, has been held up in Washington for years and the current tunnels, which are over 110 years old, are continuing to fall apart.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says even if funding for new tunnels is approved, the current tunnels need to be repaired so they can continue to operate while new tunnels are built.
“There's a question of rehabilitating these tunnels so they're safe,” the governor said. “We have a report that says they can be rehabilitated.”
The plan had always been to build the new tunnels under the Gateway Project, before shutting down the old tunnels for repair.
“There's also a desire by Amtrak and many people to build new tunnels, to have additional access to New York, which I think is a good idea, but one is not the enemy of the other,” Gov. Cuomo adds.
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Though, a new report says the tunnels could begin to be repaired now with nightly and weekend closures for upwards of five years.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, though, is not as on board the project as Cuomo is.
“To me it looks like alchemy,” Murphy said.
The New Jersey Democrat says he wants the tunnels to be repaired and he wants new tunnels to be constructed, but he doesn’t want to disrupt New Jersyans daily lives.
“It's crystal clear what we need: We need four tunnels. And we need to do it in a way where we're not making our commuters any more miserable than a commute to New York City has been,” Murphy said.
He thinks sticking to the original plan is the way to go and is hopeful funding for the project will be approved under the new administration.
"Let's build two new ones, as the plan has always been, and then rehab the two old ones so that at the end of the day we have four tunnels,” Murphy said.
The tunnels are owned by Amtrak and Chairman Tony Coscia says the new plan to begin repairing the old tunnels now makes extraordinary assumptions about costs, risks and feasibility.
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