Feds can’t ignore faster fix

At Friday’s inaugural meeting of the New York-New Jersey Gateway Development Commission (now a bi-state governmental agency instead of a New Jersey non-profit corporation), the commissioners talked hopefully of a pending environmental decision from Washington on advancing the proposed new $9.8 billion Hudson rail tunnel, part of the larger $30 billion Gateway boondoggle.

The Federal Railroad Administration, now run by Biden appointee Amit Bose, has long been reviewing the tunnel’s draft environmental impact statement before signing off and issuing its record of decision. But even though President Biden, unlike Donald Trump, is supportive of the plan, a quick okay is impossible if the law is to be followed.

The 1,787 pages submitted to the feds for the environmental clearance begin by saying: “The purpose of the Proposed Action is to preserve the current functionality of Amtrak and NJTransit service between New Jersey and Manhattan by repairing the deteriorating North [Hudson] River Tunnel.” Also, this “must be achieved while maintaining uninterrupted rail service and by optimizing the use of existing infrastructure,” and “accomplished as soon as possible.”

The solution was to dig that $9.8 billion new tunnel and then close the old tubes for repairs. However, technology has advanced considerably and there’s a far better, faster and cheaper option of repairing the old tunnel nights and weekends, which Amtrak is doing. But Amtrak isn’t fixing them that well, as the railroad still wants to close the tubes after the new tunnel opens. Amtrak must publish its tunnel reliability study, which has been “almost ready” since November.

Why not just make the improvements permanent, avoiding a future closure? Amtrak has rejected the kind of repair in place the MTA used on the L train, but a definitive study from London Bridge Associates offers seven other scenarios to get the damaged tubes back to 100% status without closures.