First new Hudson River rail tunnel in 100+ years: boring machines launch in North Bergen

NORTH BERGEN, N.J. — Officials on Monday celebrated the start of the tunnel-boring phase of the Hudson Tunnel Project at the Tonnelle Avenue launch site here, marking what the Gateway Development Commission calls the first new rail tunnel under the Hudson River in more than 100 years.

The machine ceremonially “turned on” Monday is not yet earnestly digging. GDC said final testing will be completed in the coming days before the first tunnel boring machine begins excavation, with a second machine launching soon after. Officials said earnest chipping through the Palisades is expected by Oct. 13, and the second hard-rock machine was still being assembled as of Monday’s ceremony.

Gov. Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey and Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York joined project leaders in the rain at the bottom of the launch pit under Tonnelle Avenue for a ceremonial switch as the first machine began turning.

GDC described Monday’s milestone as the start of the first phase of tunnel boring — the culmination of more than a decade of planning and nearly three years of construction. Two hard-rock tunnel boring machines launching this fall will bore approximately one mile, or about 5,100 feet, through the Palisades from the North Bergen portal to the Hudson County Access Shaft on the border of Weehawken and Hoboken. The machines are expected to advance roughly 30 feet of tunnel per day, including scheduled maintenance pauses, and to reach the access shaft about one year after launching.

Those machines will then be removed via the access shaft and replaced with a second pair optimized for the mixed ground under the Hudson River for the stretch to Manhattan. The first set are single-shield hard-rock machines: each cutterhead is 28 feet 8 inches in diameter, the trailing gantry extends roughly 500 feet, and each weighs more than 1,680 tons. The Palisades Tunnel Project construction package is being built by Schiavone Lane Dragados JV; the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is managing delivery in partnership with GDC.

“I spent years in Congress fighting for the Hudson Tunnel Project because it is the most important infrastructure project in the country,” Gov. Sherrill said in a GDC statement. “Now, tunnel boring is beginning on the first new rail tunnel under the Hudson in more than a century. I was proud to be called the ‘tunnel-obsessed Congresswoman,’ and as Governor, I will keep fighting until this tunnel is built, so 100,000 jobs will be delivered, and millions of New Jersey commuters and travelers finally have the reliable service they deserve.”

At the ceremony, Sherrill also said residents “deserve cutting-edge infrastructure,” noting the existing tunnel dated to when Teddy Roosevelt was president and that anyone who has endured hours-long delays knows it is “no longer state-of-the-art.”

GDC Chief Executive Officer Tom Prendergast said: “Today we mark the start of boring the first new rail tunnel under the Hudson River since the North River Tunnel went into service in 1910. While we celebrate a start today, this moment also marks the culmination of years of work. We would not be here today without the hundreds of people who have poured countless hours into planning, designing, and building this project.”

NJ TRANSIT President & CEO Kris Kolluri said that having previously led GDC during a critical period for the project, he now sees the milestone “through the eyes of our customers,” calling the start of tunnel boring “another significant step closer to the modern, resilient infrastructure our customers and the entire Northeast Corridor depend on.”

Gov. Hochul said building a new rail connection across the Hudson “has been a dream for over a generation” that would improve reliability and resilience for more than 200,000 daily riders. “We’re not surrendering to anyone. This project must happen, and it must happen now on schedule,” she said. “So get out of our way.”

The Hudson Tunnel Project is the centerpiece of the larger Gateway program. Officials have framed the tunnel work at about $16 billion; the new tunnels are not scheduled to enter service until about 2035. Roughly 200,000 passengers use the existing century-old tunnels each day. Those tunnels, completed in 1910 and damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, cannot begin full rehabilitation until the new tubes are finished, project officials have said.

On federal funding, GDC Executive Vice President Cathy Rinaldi said the commission has “gotten our federal reimbursements every month since March.” Hochul and Sherrill pledged to fight any future attempts to claw back federal support. GDC said the project is being delivered through ten construction packages; the first was completed in early 2026, and six additional packages are in progress.

James Starace, GDC’s chief of program delivery, told reporters Monday the Palisades dig should not disrupt life above ground: “The folks above shouldn’t feel or see or hear anything.”

Photo credit (featured): Don Pollard / Office of Governor Kathy Hochul (Flickr). Primary source: Gateway Development Commission statements, Sep 28, 2026. Ceremony detail and Oct. 13 testing timeline from officials’ on-site briefings Monday (also reported by Gothamist). Accuracy note: Monday’s ceremonial switch is not the start of earnest excavation; final testing continues, with earnest digging expected by Oct. 13. The North River Tunnel (1910) is the prior rail crossing — not the Holland Tunnel road crossing.