The Gateway Development Commission (GDC) has celebrated the start of tunnel boring for the Hudson Tunnel Project on 28 September 2026, marking the first construction of a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River in more than a century.
According to the GDC, construction crews are finalising preparations and expect the first tunnel boring machine (TBM) to begin digging in the coming days, with a second machine to follow soon after.
Both machines will excavate a mile-long section of tunnel through the Palisades Cliffs in New Jersey to an access shaft on the border of Weehawken and Hoboken.
The milestone comes after more than a decade of planning and nearly three years of construction work.
In a statement, the GDC noted this marks “the culmination of nearly three years of construction work”, with extensive preparatory efforts required before tunnel boring could commence.
That included the manufacturing, shipment and on-site reassembly of the giant TBMs, each weighing over 1,680t and featuring a 28ft-8in cutterhead for hard rock excavation.
The initial tunnel boring phase is being executed by contractor Schiavone Lane Dragados JV, under the management of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) in partnership with GDC.
Each machine is expected to advance roughly 30ft per day, including planned pauses for maintenance, and reach the Hudson County Access Shaft in about one year.
After this stretch is completed, both machines will be removed, and a second pair, optimised for mixed ground conditions, will undertake the next phase beneath the river towards Manhattan.
New York State Governor Kathy Hochul said: “This is a historic day for New York and a clear demonstration of our ambitions to once again dream and build big.
“Building a new rail connection across the Hudson River has been a dream for over a generation, one that would improve reliability and resilience for over 200,000 daily riders who power our economy.”
The Hudson Tunnel Project is an “urgent investment” in the busiest segment of the US rail network, aiming to enhance transport links between New Jersey and New York through the construction of a new twin-tube tunnel beneath the Hudson River.
It is structured into ten construction packages. The initial package completed in early 2026, with six more currently in progress.
The new twin-tube tunnel will supplement and eventually allow for repairs to the existing North River Tunnel, which has been in continuous operation since 1910 and causes significant bottlenecks along what the GDC describes as the most heavily used rail corridor in the US.
Work to prepare the site included building a bridge to support Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen and excavating the launch enclosure required for the tunnel boring machines.
The complex assembly and site testing of the machines followed after they were transported in components from the factory.
Once the new tubes are in place, the century-old North River Tunnel will be rehabilitated, with GDC aiming to improve capacity and reliability for hundreds of thousands of rail commuters travelling between New Jersey and New York daily.
In June this year, GDC awarded a contract valued at around $711.7m to Skanska Creamer Sanzari NJSA joint venture (JV) for the construction of the New Jersey Surface Alignment, part of the Hudson Tunnel Project.
