NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) -- Work to begin digging a new Hudson Tunnel is set to begin this spring as two tunnel boring machines custom-built for the project are on their way to New Jersey.
The new rail tunnel, called the Gateway program, will serve Amtrak and New Jersey Transit and provide a vital link between the Garden State and Manhattan, as the existing tube is more than 100 years old.
The Gateway Development Commission, which is overseeing the project, said Monday that the first of the new machines will arrive in January. That will mark a milestone as they will begin the first digging work after years of delays to excavate a new tunnel.
“We are on the verge of a new phase of the Hudson Tunnel Project,” GDC commissioners said in a joint statement. “When the two tunnel boring machines that were manufactured this year begin their journey under the Palisades, it will represent a major step forward for the project.”
The tunnel boring machines are coming from a Herrenknecht factory in Germany and are part of the overall $465 million cost to excavate one mile of new rail tunnel in New Jersey. The two machines will work simultaneously to create two parallel tunnel tubes.
The boring work in New Jersey will take about a year, according to a GDC spokesperson. The project will then proceed to dig through the Hudson River, which will require different machines designed for that terrain.
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