Amtrak studying need for second Hudson rail tunnel

February 14, 2001 Two rail tunnels under the Hudson River - one dug by NJ Transit and another by Amtrak - could be built within 20 years to handle the growing passenger load between New Jersey and Manhattan, transportation officials said, The Record reports.

Amtrak is studying the
need for another underground railway to complement an existing, century-old
Hudson River crossing and an $8.7 billion tunnel that NJ Transit plans to build
by 2017.

The national rail
agency’s master plan for the Northeast Corridor – the span of track between
Washington D.C. and Boston, Mass., notes that riders on the Northeast Corridor are
expected to double by 2030 and "new tunnels" could handle the expanded
capacity.

The plan says NJ
Transit’s tunnel is expected to provide only "some" relief to a system critics
say needs much more to handle connections from North Jersey and elsewhere.

Now, more than 1,000
trains each weekday land at New York’s Penn Station from NJ Transit, Amtrak and
the Long Island Rail Road.

"We have a planning
effort under way to determine needs for the Northeast Corridor in the
long-term, including expanding capacity for inter-city and commuter operations,
with the potential for a new tunnel," said Cliff Cole, an Amtrak spokesman.

That effort also includes
evaluating the need for a new tunnel under the East River and a direct rail
link to Kennedy International Airport.

NJ Transit spokesman Paul
Wyckoff said Amtrak’s plans are "under study," noting that NJ Transit assisted
in the research for Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor Infrastructure Master Plan.

"We are partners in that
study along with all the regional railroads," he said.

Amtrak’s proposal,
however, won’t change NJ Transit’s plans to finish the Mass Transit Tunnel,
which will double rail capacity between New Jersey and Manhattan.