Pending approval of the Federal Transit Administration’s $6.9 billion capital investment full funding grant agreement caps Washington’s total dollar commitment for the $16.1 billion Phase One Gateway Tunnel project. The agreement also commits Amtrak and NJ Transit to a revenue service date on or before Nov. 9, 2040.
The Gateway Development Commission is on the hook to cover costs beyond the agreed upon project cost.
The GDC has no financial resources of its own. It would have to turn to Amtrak, NJ Transit, N.J. Turnpike Authority, Port Authority, Trenton and Albany to cover inevitable costs overruns.
N.J motorists could end up paying increased tolls on Port Authority bridges, tunnels and .N.J. Turnpike, on top of future New York MTA Congestion Pricing tolls. NJ Transit riders might face fare increases.
The approval of this FFGA is part of any administration’s last fourth year in office.
They want to legally bind the next administration into having to fund the project.
The Biden administration, DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Acting FTA Administrator Veronica Vanterpool, and Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer are afraid that if Trump wins, Republicans regain control of the Senate and keep control of the House, funding in the FFGA might be held up or reduced
When I worked as the director of the Office of Operations and Program Management in the FTA Region 2 office serving New York and New Jersey, we called the fourth quarter (July 1 – Sept. 30) our end-of-year grant and FFGA clearance sale for approval of grants using lapsing funds or FFGAs. It was also called the Halloween grant cycle as a code word for pre-Election Day grants.
FTA did not want to leave any money on the table that the incoming Congress might want to take back or reduce the overall level of FTA funding.
FTA headquarters always coordinates grant and FFGA announcements with the congressional delegation, governor’s office, and state and local elected officials prior to official approval. This was so everyone could take credit for bringing home the transit “bacon.”
Remember the FTA CIG FFGAÂ $2.6 Billion MTA East Side Access to Grand Central Terminal (now known as Grand Central Madison) for $6.3 billion in 2006.
By the time this project was completed in 2013, 10 years after the original FFGA agreed upon 2013 completion date, chad ost grew to the $11.8 billion (includithe ng $6had grownillion in long-term debt service payments). The MTA had to come up with $5.3 billion in additional funding to cover all the cost overruns. The Gateway project is bound to suffer the same fate.
Two new Gateway tunnels are failing to cope with the increasing service disruptions caused by power, signal, track, or communications problems on the Northeast Corridor, which impact both Amtrak and NJ Transit.
Trains cannot enter or leave Penn Station. Billions and decades are needed to restore all Northeast Corridor capital assets to good repair.
Substantial repairs to the two original 110-year-old Hudson River tunnel (owned by Amtrak and used by NJ Transit) damaged by Super Storm Sandy in 2012 will not begin until 2036 when the two new tunnels are scheduled to be completed and open for revenue service.
Given their age, can they continue to safely function twelve more years before work really begins and seventeen more years before work is completed?
Phase One does nothing to increase Penn Station’s capacity. Phase 2, at an estimated cost of $22.2 billion, would bring the total cost of Gateway to $39 billion and add four new platforms and eight new tracks capable of accommodating 12-car trains.
Any detailed budget, funding sources and timetable for implementation of Phase 2 is a decade or more away.
You would have to see substantial completion of Phase One, which may not occur until 2040, depending upon if they can keep to the agreed project implementation schedule of the FFGA before major construction gets underway.
According to the getsAunderwayManagement Oversight Independent Engineering consultant report, the $39 billion Gateway Tunnel project was already two years behind schedule.
The report predicts a completion date of 2040. The Gateway Development Commission that same year promised a completion date of 2038.
When it comes to Gateway, Amtrak, NJ Transit and Metro North Rail Road Port Jervis and Pascack Valley commuters, potential future riders, taxpayers, motorists paying tolls and public officials — buyer beware!
Larry Penner
Great Neck
Larry Penner is a transportation advocate, historian and writer who previously served as a former Director for the Federal Transit Administration Region 2 New York Office of Operations and Program Management.
