On Feb. 6, Judge Jeanette A. Vargas, of United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, ordered the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to release $16 billion for the Gateway Project, one of the more necessary large infrastructure projects in the United States. The project was formally approved by the U.S. government in May 2021, and got underway in November 2023. In late September 2025, the Trump Administration, in a paroxysm of threats and lies, froze the funds to illegally close down the project..
The Gateway Project is intended to make a difference in the Northeast Rail Corridor, by rehabilitating and upgrading the rail system that runs from Penn Station in Newark, New Jersey, through a rail tunnel underneath and across the Hudson River, and then to Penn Station in New York City, which is one of the busiest rail stations in the world. From there it connects to the 457-mile electrified Northeast Rail Corridor that extends from Boston, Massachusetts, to Washington, D.C.
The existing rail tunnel that runs under the Hudson River was built in 1910; it was not built through the bedrock that exists underneath the Hudson River, but rather sits atop the bottom of the Hudson River. Hurricane Sandy in October 2012 did important damage to the tunnel. It still leaks water. It should have been replaced four decades ago.
The purpose of the Gateway Project is broad: It will rehabilitate the 1910 tunnel underneath the Hudson River; dig a new set of rail tunnels under Bergen Hill, New Jersey, and the Hudson River (connecting New Jersey to New York); dig new rail bridges in the New Jersey Meadowlands; build the second phase of the Second Avenue subway in New York City, so that it connects to Harlem in the northern part of Manhattan Island; renovate Penn Station in New York City; and additional projects.
