New Jersey’s transit authority has urged commuters into Manhattan to work from home for up to a month if possible because of a huge railroad upgrade that is expected to upend travel to New York City from Tuesday morning.
The national rail operator, Amtrak, will move some train traffic on to a new bridge, according to the New York Times, in a travel-snarling project that is expected to last until 15 March and will result in extensive delays and fewer trains under the Hudson River.
The work is part of the $16bn Gateway infrastructure project that Donald Trump has repeatedly tried to thwart. The trains currently travel over the 116-year-old Portal Bridge, which extends 961ft (293 meters) across the Hackensack River in New Jersey. As many as 200,000 people cross the bridge daily, the Times said, part of Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor rail line, “the busiest in the Western Hemisphere”.
Weekday rail service will be reduced to 178 trains daily, down from 332, NJ.com reported, so that Amtrak crews can finish infrastructure and signaling work to enable one of the Northeast Corridor tracks to operate on the new crossing, to be called the Portal North Bridge.
Some trains that would normally arrive to Midtown Manhattan will be dispatched to Hoboken, New Jersey.
The bridge has reportedly suffered longstanding problems including fires and drawbridge malfunctions.
“The Portal Bridge has been a nemesis and a nightmare for decades for riders on the Northeast Corridor,” NJ Transit’s CEO, Kris Kolluri, told ABC 7 News. “In the end there will be a brand new bridge for the first time in 116 years.”
Some riders could take another train, the Path, to New York City, but the diversion is poised to spur extensive demand for this service. Transit officials in New Jersey have suggested that commuters work from home if they can.
The Gateway Project will also construct a new commuter rail tunnel under the Hudson, and revamp a highly trafficked century-old tunnel that was damaged in Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and requires frequent emergency repairs.
Trump continues threatening federal funding for Gateway. A federal judge recently reversed his Gateway funding freeze amid reports that he wanted Manhattan’s Penn Station and Dulles airport near Washington named after him in exchange. (Trump said others made the suggestion.)
The US president on Monday complained again about Gateway, writing on social media: “I am opposed to the future boondoggle known as ‘Gateway,’ in New York/New Jersey, because it will cost many BILLIONS OF DOLLARS more than projected or anticipated.” He said Gateway would be “financially catastrophic for the region, unless hard work and proper planning is done, NOW, to avoid insurmountable future cost overruns.”
Proponents argue construction will create 20,000 jobs. While the federal government has since released some money to Gateway after the court decision, officials say another Trump funding freeze would cause delays and job losses.
