GDC Completes Manufacturing of First Two TBMs for HTP

Image courtesy Gateway Development Commission

NEWARK/NEW YORK - The Gateway Development Commission (GDC) announced that manufacturing and testing of the first two TBMs for the Hudson Tunnel Project are complete.

In August, RT&S reported that the TBMs manufacturing was close to completion, at 85% and 73%, respectively. According to the GDC, now these tunnel boring machines (TBM) are complete and will be shipped to New Jersey to be assembled on site in January.

The first is currently en route to New Jersey with components arriving in Port Elizabeth, New Jersey and Baltimore, Maryland in January. Then, they will be transported to the construction site located in North Bergen. It will take approximately three months to assemble the first TBM and complete testing before it begins the work in the spring.

The second TBM will ship in early 2026, says the GDC. Components will arrive in North Bergen in March. After assembly, the second TBM will begin tunnel boring in the summer. Below is a graphic, courtesy of the GDC, with the anticipated TBM shipping and assembly schedule.

GDC CEO Thomas Prendergast said, “Completing the factory acceptance tests for the first set of tunnel boring machines is a significant milestone. These TBMs are not standard construction equipment. They are massive, highly complex machines that have been custom-built for the Hudson Tunnel Project. Producing them is an impressive feat in-and-of itself. The two years of work that our teams on the ground in New Jersey have done to prepare for the arrival of the TBMs is just as impressive. Reaching this milestone on schedule sends a clear message: GDC is delivering as promised, and we will continue to deliver in the years ahead.”

Alicia Glen, New York GDC Commissioner and Co-Chair, Balpreet Grewal-Virk, New Jersey GDC Commissioner and Co-Chair, and Tony Coscia, GDC Amtrak Commissioner and Vice Chair, said, “We are on the verge of a new phase of the Hudson Tunnel Project. When the two tunnel boring machines that were manufactured this year begin their journey under the Palisades, it will represent a major step forward for the project. We could not have reached this point without the support of our partners in Washington and the states. We look forward to continuing to work together to deliver the most urgent passenger rail project in the country in the new year.”

Hudson Tunnel Project Construction Update

Additionally, the GDC gave updates on five active HTP construction projects. Beneath Tonnelle Avenue, crews have completed the bridge structure and opening, thus marking a “critical step that will enable the TBM components to be brought in for assembly.” Crews have also excavated the portal launch box located at the base of the Palisades where the TBMs will be assembled. At the Hudson Yards Concrete Casing – Section 3 tunnel box, construction began in October with the first major concrete pour. Below is a gallery of construction update images, all courtesy of GDC.

60,000 square feet of the riverbed in the Hudson River has been stabilized with deep soil mixing. The contractor “shifted the temporary cofferdam 300 feet east toward Manhattan to enable work on a new section of the riverbed.” Along the Hudson County Access Shaft in New Jersey and the 12th Avenue Access Shaft in New York, crews are installing guide walls and starting work on the slurry walls. Elsewhere, crews are working on ground stabilization in Hudson River Park and on temporary marine structures in the river to strengthen subsurface areas beneath the Manhattan bulkhead to prepare for the TBMs.