Hudson Train Tunnel Bills Signed, Lifting Impediment to Funding

(Bloomberg) -- A proposed New York City-area rail tunnel will have a bi-state commission to accept potentially billions of dollars in federal funding, a response to objections from the Trump administration blamed in part for delaying the project.

Governors Andrew Cuomo of New York and Phil Murphy of New Jersey, both Democrats, signed legislation to create the entity, according to a joint statement. The U.S. Transportation Department has said the existing Gateway Program Development Corp., which has been shepherding the project, wasn’t authorized to process any aid, should it be awarded.

Trump has said that state and local governments should fund Gateway, a partnership that includes Amtrak and New Jersey Transit to build a Hudson River tunnel, a bridge in New Jersey’s Meadowlands and other New York City-area passenger-rail improvements. An existing swing bridge and two-track tunnel, each more than a century old and increasingly unreliable, service a region that generates 20% of the gross domestic product, according to Amtrak.

“The current Hudson River train tunnels are in dire condition, and it’s only a matter of time before one or both tubes fail,” the governors said. “While the Trump administration continues to put politics ahead of the safety and economic security of the nation, New York and New Jersey are working together to get the job done.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Elise Young in Trenton at eyoung30@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Flynn McRoberts at fmcroberts1@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth Wasserman, Jon Morgan

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