Who is paying for this tunnel’s cost overruns?

Great Neck, L.I.: “The runaway train” (editorial, May 29) concerning the proposed Gateway Tunnel project is reminiscent of the ongoing MTA’s Long Island Rail Road East Side Access to Grand Central Terminal project. In 2001, the initial estimated cost was $3.5 billion with a completion date in 2011. The original Full Funding Grant Agreement between the Federal Transit Administration and the MTA was approved in December 2006. The $2.63 billion of FTA grant funding toward a $6.3 billion project cost remains unchanged (virtually all of which has already been spent). The total cost today is $11.2 billion, with the MTA having to cover the $5 billion and growing cost overruns.

Under any FTA FFGA, the recipient of funding is responsible for any cost overruns. This does not include $4 billion more for indirect costs known as “readiness projects” carried offline from the official project budget. These are the $2.6 billion Main Line third track, $450 million Jamaica capacity, $387 million Ronkonkoma double track, $120 million Ronkonkoma yard expansion and $44 million Great Neck pocket track, just to name a few that support direct implementation for east side access. Are the Gateway Development Commission, Amtrak, NJTransit and Govs. Phil Murphy and Kathy Hochul prepared to pay for unanticipated Gateway cost overruns?

In 2015, the estimated cost for the full-scope Gateway Tunnel grew by $3.9 billion, from $20 billion to $23.9 billion, and in 2017, to $29.1 billion. The estimated cost today is now $33 billion. Will this cost continue to increase over time to $40, $50 or even $60 billion? Will Gateway be completed by 2040 rather than the promised 2029 date? Gateway is destined to be our version of the infamous Boston Big Dig.