The Federal Department of Transportation will give New York $185 million to help build a rail tunnel under the Related Companies’ Hudson Yards project that will allow for high-speed train service between Manhattan and Newark, N.J., Crain’s reported.
The 800-foot long concrete tunnel box between 10th and 11th Avenues that will be built with the funds is the first step in the Gateway high-speed rail project, which will require billions of dollars in additional funding. The funding announced Thursday is part of a federal Hurricane Sandy relief package.
“They [Related] weren’t going to wait two years; they were going to build,” said Senator Charles Schumer on Thursday. “Sandy [relief funding] was there, available, the criteria fit, and the money was getting through quickly and fit the timetable.”
The box tunnel cannot be used for train transportation at first; instead, it will serve as a shell for the Manhattan end of the future Hudson tunnel that Amtrak intends to build, as well as for the proposed Moynihan Station.
Related’s chairman Stephen Ross said that while he may not be around to see the completion of the Gateway project, he recognized the “need and necessity” for the rail tunnel under Hudson Yards. [Crain’s] – Hiten Samtani