NY's Cuomo Reluctant to Dig Deep for New Hudson Rail Tunnel

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

NY's Cuomo Reluctant to Dig Deep for New Hudson Rail Tunnel

ALBANY, N.Y. — Aug 15, 2015, 10:58 AM ET
By DAVID KLEPPER Associated Press

He committed billions of dollars to overhaul LaGuardia Airport and build a new Tappan Zee Bridge — but New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has taken a wary approach to building a new Hudson River rail tunnel, even though the stakes could be even higher for the state and the nation.

The existing Amtrak tunnel connecting New York City and New Jersey is a century old and in disrepair. Electrical wires corroded by Superstorm Sandy's floods prompted hours-long delays last month that highlighted the tunnel's condition and previewed what could become a chronic problem if nothing is done.

Yet Cuomo sees little light ahead in this tunnel project.

The Democrat balked at an invitation from U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx to meet with him and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to discuss the construction of a new tunnel, saying there was "no reason to meet now." He told reporters recently that the outlook for the tunnel is "not especially bright."

If that's true, then it's bad news for millions of commuters, not just the 200,000 people who ride trains through the tunnel each day. Amtrak estimates that the existing tunnel — which has a single track in two tubes, one for either direction — has a life expectancy of about 20 years. Closing one tube for a year of repairs would reduce the number of trains using the tunnel from 24 to 6 per hour at peak times, forcing tens of thousands of people onto ferries, buses or cars and further clogging the region's already congested streets.

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Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/nys-cuomo-reluctant-dig-deep-hudson-rail-tunnel-33103810

[riversedge]

1. Come on--get it done!

[Historic NY]

2. Thank Christie

In 2009, Chris Christie’s predecessor broke ground on a fully funded, $8.7-billion project that would have created a new tunnel under the Hudson River to connect the commuter-rich suburbs of northern New Jersey with job-rich midtown Manhattan.

*Christie canceled it and the loss in monies expended along with the jobs it was producing went away. The tunnel 20yrs in the making with design, planning and actual construction went into the dumps when he pulled the plug. It left hundreds of people suddenly w/o jobs and the access to the digs boarded up. Christie put the plywood in the hole and its not easy to restart. Ny state went onto other projects to aleviate the commute.

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2014/10/8553855/christies-other-transit-scandal-could-be-big-one


Now he suddenly is for it.

Four years after killing a $12.4 billion tunnel that would have doubled commuter capacity to Manhattan, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has endorsed another stab at rail expansion as part of a plan to remake the Port Authority.

If Christie hadn’t stopped the Access to the Region’s Core project that began in 2009, mass-transit relief would have come as soon as 2018. Now he supports an approach, with new oversight by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, that has no dedicated funding and would take at least 10 years.

Train travel garnered a brief mention last month in a 99-page report by a panel recommending fixes for the bi-state operator of regional airports, cargo docks and New York City river crossings. That’s attention enough as the transportation agency, with a $7.8 billion annual budget, tries to distance itself from a year of scandal over political patronage.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-06/christie-endorses-tunnel-four-years-after-killing-project

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Christie not only canceled the project but he also kept the federal funds given to

build the tunnel and illegally embezzled the money to NJ projects.