The Gateway Program Development Corporation (GDC) has released an analysis of the North River Tunnel (NRT) rehabilitation project that provides an independent, third-party review of the Hudson Tunnel Project rehabilitation plan.
London Bridge Associates (LBA) considered the scope and implementation timing of the NRT rehabilitation based on its experience in global best practices.
The analysis confirms that all elements of the rehabilitation scope included in the Hudson Tunnel Project are required to comprehensively rehabilitate the NRT. This includes reconfiguring and rebuilding the tunnel’s concrete bench walls; replacing high-voltage electrical cables and other cables currently inside the bench walls; a 360 degree repair of the tunnel’s concrete lining including areas behind the bench walls and beneath the ballasted track bed; replacing the outdated ballast and wood tie trackbed with a directfixation concrete system; and upgrading and replacing the catenary overhead system and dated cables and signals with state-of-the-art equipment. The report acknowledges that existing levels of Northeast Corridor service must be maintained throughout the construction period.
“New York and the nation need 21st Century rail transportation, and the new Hudson River Tunnel, combined with a full rehab of the existing century old tunnel, delivers the first big step of that vision," said Steven Cohen, New York trustee and chairman. "We will work together with our partners to speed up delivery of reliable service to customers in the existing tunnel by inviting innovation and applying world’s best practice to the rehabilitation plan, because that’s the right thing to do for customers and economic growth. But make no mistake, we need both the new tunnel and a fully working, reliable existing tunnel to have the capacity and reliability our region and nation can depend on for the future.”
LBA’s report recommends a conceptual approach to repairing the tunnel lining and sealing leaks first and considering alternatives to the existing concrete bench walls for protecting cables, such as combinations of racking, troughs and metal strongboxes that have successfully been used elsewhere. LBA’s approach prioritized the root causes of unreliability evidenced by train delay data attributed to track conditions, overhead power and signal problems, and recommends accelerating work to correct these issues as quickly as possible.
LBA noted, based on other tunnel rehabilitation works around the world, that NRT rehabilitation could be expedited, may be possible to carry out during “in service” maintenance windows on nights and weekends, and that the concept warranted further study by the Gateway partners. The report says further design and contractor outreach would be required to determine, develop, test and practice the means and methods that allow for maintaining current levels of service.
The analysis recommends proceeding with rehabilitation while continuing ongoing state of good repair work on the North River Tunnel. It assumes between 85 and 100 percent of regular weeknight and weekend maintenance windows where tracks are out of service for repair work can be utilized for these activities, an assumption being further studied by the NRT railroad operators to determine its feasibility.
“The construction of a new Hudson River Tunnel is the fundamental reason GDC was created and our top priority. As we await federal environmental approval so we can begin construction, a full review of the very best means, methods and practices to preserve the existing North River Tunnel is an important part of Amtrak’s stewardship of this critical infrastructure," said Tony Coscia, Amtrak trustee and vice chairman. "The concepts suggested by LBA are being evaluated to determine feasibility, cost and schedule impacts, so that we can determine the best ways to assure the continued reliability of rail travel into and out of New York while we advance the new tunnel.”
Under LBA’s recommendation, the rehabilitation projects would be sequenced on nights and weekends to bring benefits to customers online in stages, with reliability improving as the refurbishment work progresses.
“To rebuild our economy and ensure the future of the Northeast Corridor, the Hudson Tunnel Project needs to do two things: construct a new two-track tunnel and rehabilitate the existing tubes to serve for the next hundred years, and to do so as soon as possible," said Jerry Zaro, New Jersey trustee and treasurer. "In that spirit, we welcome the advice and suggestions contained in the LBA report. But we will take no action recommended by the report, such as replacing track overnight, unless and until we are 100 percent certain we can reliably do so and bring back uninterrupted service the following morning."
Officials challenge recommendations
However, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, U.S. Senators Bob Menedez (D-NJ) and Corey Booker (D-NJ), New Jersey Transit (NJ Transit) and Amtrak are challenge the recommendations, saying they have strong reservations about the feasibility of proposals in the report.
Specifically, many of the proposed activities present very significant engineering and operational challenges, which have not yet been validated. They must be carefully considered and evaluated to ensure existing service is not compromised in any way. NJ Transit and Amtrak have noted these concerns to LBA and the other Hudson Tunnel project stakeholders during the time this report was being prepared. While all the project stakeholders are interested in exploring solutions that could expedite the rehabilitation and improve the customer experience as soon as possible, these recommendations require significant further study before they can be characterized as feasible.
“The Hudson Tunnel Project is the single most important infrastructure project in the nation,” said Gov. Murphy. “The plan for this resilience project has always been to build a new tunnel, and once a new tunnel is complete, to shut down the 110-year-old North River Tunnel for a comprehensive rehab. While all project partners agree that certain rehab work can be completed on the North River Tunnel in the meantime, I am greatly concerned by proposals in this report that suggest more extensive rehab measures that could potentially interrupt the daily operations of NJ Transit and Amtrak. Make no mistake — I am opposed to any rehab proposals that could negatively impact the reliability of service for thousands of New Jersey commuters who cross the Hudson each day.”
They say a primary concern of the report’s recommendations is the impact to service and how this approach will significantly disrupt the NJ Transit and Amtrak customer experience. Single track operations and daily startup/shutdown of construction activities have the potential to significantly impact rail operations and, consequently, customers who depend on the rail service. Additional proposed modifications to weeknight train service will also impact customers by creating gaps in service frequency – meaning longer wait times between scheduled trains. This recommendation in the LBA report is purely conceptual at this time. Any degradation in service delivery would be unacceptable, say NJ Transit and Amtrak.
“I have been clear from the beginning that we need to both build a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River, in addition to rehabilitating the existing tunnel. While we all recognize that ongoing maintenance is necessary to ensure the safety and reliability of the existing tunnel, this work must be done so that it does not result in major, unavoidable service disruptions for NJ Transit and Amtrak customers that use the tunnel every day. This could leave thousands of New Jerseyans stranded and cause significant economic harm to our region,” said Sen. Menendez, ranking member of the Senate’s transit subcommittee. “We are so close to having a president in the White House who understands the importance of Gateway, and we must stay fully committed and focused on completing the nation’s most important infrastructure project.”
“We know that the best path to providing relief for New Jersey commuters is to build a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River and then rehabilitate the existing tunnels,” said Sen. Booker. “Since the early meetings of the stakeholders for this project, we affirmed long-term commitments to updating this outdated infrastructure and putting the Gateway Program back on track. We must remain committed to ensuring that this work be completed with minimal impact to New Jersey commuters, who for years have experienced far too many service disruptions as a result of aging transit networks and failed public policy decisions. Gateway is the most viable solution to addressing our region’s infrastructure needs, and I am confident that vital projects like this will be prioritized in the Biden Administration.”
“The recommendations in this report are highly speculative and require a much more detailed evaluation before declaring them practicable,” said NJ Transit President & CEO Kevin Corbett. “NJ Transit will not consider any solution that adversely impacts service reliability or our ability to maintain current rail service levels to and from Penn Station New York. The one thing we are unwilling to compromise on is our customers’ experience.”
NJ Transit and Amtrak say they agree that it’s essential to maintain reliable service in the existing tunnels. Closure of just one of the two tubes would result in as much as a 75-percent reduction in weekday train service and have catastrophic impacts on the region’s economy. Because of delays to the Hudson Tunnel Project, Amtrak has launched a program to identify and prioritize work that can be done on limited night and weekend outages now, to improve reliability of the century-old tunnel for passengers today while work toward construction of a new trans-Hudson tunnel continues. Once the new tunnel is in place the existing tunnel can be closed for full rehabilitation.
NJ Transit and Amtrak say they cannot support the LBA report’s proposals in their current format but will continue to examine any solution that can achieve our goal of expediting rehabilitation work, while maintaining uninterrupted train service for our customers.
