Gateway Program (Northeast Corridor)
The Gateway Program is the planned phased expansion and renovation of the Northeast Corridor (NEC) rail line between Newark, New Jersey, and New York City along right-of-way between Newark Penn Station and New York Penn Station. The project is to build new rail bridges in the New Jersey Meadowlands and new tunnels under Bergen Hill (Hudson Palisades) and the Hudson River, rehabilitate the existing 1910 tunnel, and construct a new terminal annex.
| Gateway Program | |
|---|---|
Construction of a future Gateway Program tunnel portal at West Side Yard in Manhattan | |
| Overview | |
| Status | Under Construction |
| Owner | Amtrak |
| Termini |
|
| Website | http://www.gatewayprogram.org/ |
| Service | |
| Type | Rail capacity expansion |
| Services | Northeast Corridor |
| Technical | |
| Character | Underground, elevated |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
The improvements are designed to double train capacity and permit more high-speed rail service along the right-of-way, whose two-track rail line used by Amtrak and NJ Transit Rail Operations (NJT) has reached its full capacity of 24 trains per hour.
It was unveiled as the Gateway Project in 2011, one year after the cancellation of the somewhat similar Access to the Region's Core (ARC) project; the need increased after Hurricane Sandy damaged the North River Tunnels the following year. It took nearly a decade to line up funding from federal agencies and state governments and to complete regulatory filings. In 2021, the project was formally approved by the federal government. Work officially began in 2023; the total cost was estimated in August 2021 to be $16.1 billion.