The ceremonial start of tunnelling on the Hudson Tunnel Project was celebrated in New Jersey yesterday.
Schiavone Lane Dragados JV will soon launch the first of the two TBMs on the Palisades Tunnel Project construction package to bore approximately 1.6km through the hard rock under the Palisades Cliffs in New Jersey to the Hudson County Access Shaft on the border of Weehawken and Hoboken.
The two machines will be removed via the access shaft and replaced with a second pair of machines that will build the section of the tunnel under the Hudson River to Manhattan.
Each TBM pair will build the two parallel tunnel tubes simultaneously.
The first pair of hard rock Herrenknecht TBMs have an 8.7m-diameter cutterhead, are approximately 152m long and weigh 1,680 tons.
They are expected to advance around 30m a day and take a year to complete the drive.
The second pair of TBMs, which will excavate from New Jersey to Manhattan, will be optimised for the mixed ground conditions under the Hudson River.
The Hudson Tunnel Project is being delivered through 10 construction packages. Construction work commenced in 2023 with the Tonnelle Avenue Bridge and Utility Relocation Project and the first construction package was completed earlier this year. Six packages are currently in progress.
After yesterday’s ceremony politicians welcomed the start of tunnelling and vowed to continue fighting for the project after President Trump halted funding earlier this year. Work was suspended in February but resumed following a federal court ruling that compelled the government to resume payments.
The Hudson Tunnel Project is the cornerstone of the Gateway Program, a set of passenger rail investments to improve connections between New York and New Jersey and along the Northeast Corridor. As well as the construction of the new two-tube tunnel, it includes rehabilitating the existing North River Tunnel, which has been in service since 1910.
New York governor Kathy Hochul said the TBM launch was a historic day for New York.
“Building a new rail connection across the Hudson River has been a dream for over a generation. We fought and beat efforts from the Trump administration to halt the Gateway project and today, that dream becomes a reality, with state-of- the-art machinery operated by expert union workers starting their journey through soil and bedrock under the Hudson to Penn Station,” she said.
Gateway Development Commission CEO Tom Prendergast acknowledged the work the project involved.
“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. In the days, months, and years ahead, we will continue to build on their hard work to deliver this critical project for the riders who are counting on us today, and the future riders who will use the tunnel for decades to come,” he said.
Schiavone Lane Dragados JV project manager Francesco Chiappalone said he was proud of the team.
“Reaching this stage reflects the hard work of everyone who has helped move the project forward. I want to extend my sincere thanks to the GDC and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for their continued support. This level of collaboration between stakeholders and contractors is not something you see every day, and it is exactly this kind of partnership that results in incredible achievements like the one we celebrate today,” he said.
