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9/29/2026
The Gateway Development Commission (GDC) yesterday announced that the first tunnel boring machine for the Hudson Tunnel Project will begin digging in the coming weeks, with a second machine launching soon after.
The tunnel project involves building a new two-tube rail tunnel under the Hudson River, the first new rail tunnel under the river in more than 100 years, and rehabilitating the existing 115-year-old tunnel and 9 miles of new passenger-rail track between New York and New Jersey to improve service and reliability on the Northeast Corridor.
The first phase of tunnel boring will be completed by Schiavone Lane Dragados JV as part of the contract for the Palisades portion of the Hudson Tunnel Project, GDC officials said in a press release.
The two machines will bore about 1 mile 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 machines are expected to build roughly 30 feet of tunnel per day, including scheduled pauses for maintenance; they will reach the access shaft about one year after launching.
Upon reaching the access shaft, the machines will be replaced with a second pair of tunnel boring machines optimized for the mixed ground conditions under the Hudson River to build the stretch of the tunnel tubes from New Jersey to Manhattan.
The new tunnel is projected to open for service in 2035, GDC officials said.