This is one infrastructure project that is BADLY needed.
When the Pennsylvania Railroad built its Manhattan Gateway, there were six tunnels:
- 4 under the East River to Queens
- 2 under the Hudson River to New Jersey
The opened in 1910, 116 years ago. One of the greatest construction projects in American history up to that time.
The tunnels are built from cast iron "outer rings" (about 23 feet in diameter), lined with concrete inside. The best technology they had back in those days, but things have changed much since then.
They've done mainenance through the years, track and signal upgrades, but there's only so much you can do when they get that old.
They decided to rebuild the East River tunnels by taking one out of service, leaving them three open. That will slow things down a little, but still work.
HOWEVER...
On the Hudson side, taking one tunnel out leaves only one left.
You can't run the railroad that way, there's just too much traffic between Amtrak and New Jersey Transit (which has more Penn Station traffic than ever since they built the Seacacus connection -- trains that once ran into Hoboken terminal across the river now run directly into Penn, too).
Hence the need for at least one new tunnel (either single or double-track, don't know).
Once the new one is in place, they can address the problems on the old ones.
This is one improvement project that will be worth the money...
