State gets $675M from feds for rail improvements
Latest grants aimed at helping reduce delays
More federal dollars are flowing to New Jersey for railroad projects.
Just under $675 million in grants have been awarded by the Federal Railroad Administration for projects in New Jersey. That’s in addition to $3.8 billion announced last week for the Gateway rail tunnel program under the Hudson River.
“This is probably one of the greatest investments that you have seen as a New Jersey taxpayer in your lifetime,” U.S. Sen. Cory Booker said at a press conference in Newark on Monday.
“It is the greatest investment in rail transportation — in mass transportation — going on in the entire United States of America,” Booker said. “And it’s going to relieve what is a pain point for millions of New Jerseyans who have had to deal with delays and other challenges.”
The money is being distributed through the FRA’s Northeast Corridor Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail Grant Program, a competitive program created through the Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act, with $22.4 billion to dole out between fiscal year 2022 and 2026.
This year, $9 billion in award money was granted for 25 projects.
Here are the projects in New Jersey:
$300 million to Amtrak for the • Dock Bridge Rehabilitation in Newark and Harrison: This grant will help pay for several repairs and modifications to this 90-year-old bridge, which is used by Amtrak, NJ Transit and PATH. They include repairing the structural steel, installing rails and replacing the movable parts, repairing concrete piers and fender replacement, and installing an anti-corrosion protection system to slow degradation of the bridge structure. The total project cost is $375,230,000, with Amtrak providing a $75 million match. Construction is expected to take place between September 2023 and September 2028.
• $133 million to Amtrak for the Sawtooth Bridges Replacement Enabling Components Project in Kearny: The project includes utility relocations, relocating catenary and aerial signal wires, removal and replacement of the current crossover between the NJ Transit Morris & Essex Line and Conrail Center Street Branch, site access improvements, and property acquisition from Conrail. The Sawtooth Bridge is one of the busiest and most complicated sections of track on the Northeast Corridor, as it is used by freight rail, Amtrak, NJ Transit and PATH. Completion of these “early” work projects could accelerate the full project — a $1.3 billion program — by at least two years, according to the FRA. The total project cost is $166,659,513, with Amtrak providing a $33.3 million match. Construction is expected to take place between March 2024 and July 2026.
• $181 million to NJ Transit for the Delco Lead project in New Brunswick:
The project includes a new service and inspection facility, crew quarters, equipment storage space, and the 3.5mile Delco Lead track itself, which provides capacity to store about 300 rail cars. Construction of the new facilities will reduce NJ Transit train volumes through Trenton Station, reducing congestion and delays in that area of the Northeast Corridor. Other benefits of the repairs include improved drainage, signal upgrades, and catenary. The total cost of the project is $457 million. NJ Transit is providing a $91 million match and has $184 million in grant money from the Superstorm Sandy relief program from the FTA that will go toward this project.
$59 million to NJ Transit for Newark
• Penn Station Vertical Circulation
Improvements: The project would upgrade, rehabilitate or replace 11 elevators and 17 escalators at Newark Penn Station, which serves Amtrak, NJ Transit and PATH trains. The total project cost is $74 million. NJ Transit is providing a $15 million local match. Construction is expected to take place between December 2029 and March 2030.
NJ Transit is also contributing $85 million in local matching funds for the $1.5 billion project to rehabilitate the East River tunnels, which take 400 daily trains from Manhattan to Queens under the East River, according to the FRA announcement. The grant, a $1.2 billion award, will help fund projects that include repairing two of the four tracks, installing a new direct fixation track, traction power, drainage systems, signals and other safety upgrades.
The tunnel is used by Amtrak, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and NJ Transit to get to Sunnyside Yards. Amtrak is contributing $55.5 million in local matching funds, and the MTA is throwing in $175 million.
‘Just the beginning’
These grant dollars will help advance lesser-known projects in the latter phases of the larger Gateway program, estimated to cost $40 billion. The first phase of Gateway is the $16.1 billion project to rehabilitate the Hudson River rail tunnels and build two new ones, and construction of the $2.3 billion replacement Portal Bridge.
However, capacity through the new tunnels to New York Penn Station cannot increase without additional projects, including changes to New York Penn Station, like the addition of new tracks or through-running to another station or railyard, and additional tracks leading to the tunnels, like the Harrison Fourth Track and Bergen loop projects and a new Portal South Bridge.
“We have to unite together to show people that we’re capable of doing big things,” Rep. Robert Menendez Jr., DJersey City, said at Monday’s press conference. “And that’s what today is about.”
“This is just the beginning,” he said. But in order to accelerate additional projects, more money will be needed.
Federal agencies awarding competitive grants require a local match from project sponsors, such as Amtrak and NJ Transit. Among the reasons Amtrak didn’t apply for a grant for the Harrison Fourth Track project earlier this year is because it didn’t have a commitment from NJ Transit for its share of the local match.
It also appears Amtrak is bearing the full cost of the local match for the Sawtooth and Dock Bridge projects, for which NJ Transit was originally supposed to provide money.
NJ Transit is facing significant budget hurdles, with a $119 million operating deficit expected next year and a nearly $1 billion shortfall the year after that.
New Jersey governors and state lawmakers have never constitutionally dedicated funding to the agency in its 40-year history, which makes it difficult to do long-term capital planning like what is required for the Gateway projects.
Among the ways state lawmakers have filled the agency’s operating budget holes is by taking dollars from its capital fund, the fund used to provide local grant matches.
This 33-year habit started by siphoning $9 million in 1990 and has grown substantially over the years, with $334 million expected to leave the capital budget this fiscal year.