Gateway Tunnel: The Machine That Will Never Go Under the Hudson

The first Gateway Tunnel boring machine finally started digging on the 8th of October, and it will stop 5,100 feet in, before it ever reaches the Hudson. Every Amtrak and NJ Transit train between Newark and New York Penn Station still runs through the North River Tunnels, two tubes that opened in 1910. Hurricane Sandy flooded them with seawater in 2012, and the salt left behind is still eating the concrete and electrical equipment. The old tunnel can't be closed for repairs until a new one exists. We follow the Herrenknecht single-shield machine launched from a pit in North Bergen into the Palisades rock: how its cutterhead cracks stone, how it builds concrete rings and pushes off them, and why it hands over to separate mixed-ground machines from Traylor Brothers, Walsh and Skanska at a shaft on the Weehawken-Hoboken border. Then there's the money. The $16 billion Hudson Tunnel Project ran out of cash in February 2026 after the Department of Transportation froze its grant payments and President Trump said he had terminated it. Judge Jeannette Vargas ruled the freeze unlawful, payments resumed, and the administration has appealed. The Gateway Development Commission still holds to a 2035 opening, and every year of delay is another year the 1910 tubes have to hold. 0:00 Introduction 1:05 Salt in the Walls 2:22 How the Machine Bites 3:45 Stopping Short of the River 4:49 The Fight Over the Money Sources: NJBIZ: Hudson Tunnel Project's massive boring machines get to work https://njbiz.com/hudson-tunnel-proje... Gateway Development Commission (gatewayprogram.org): Hudson Tunnel Project https://www.gatewayprogram.org/hudson... Engineering News-Record: NYC Gateway Project TBMs Near Completion, on Track for 2026 Tunneling Start https://www.enr.com/articles/61233-ny... Engineering News-Record: Trump Administration Appeals $16B Hudson Tunnel Funding Ruling https://www.enr.com/articles/63594-tr... Gateway Development Commission: First Hudson Tunnel Project Tunnel Boring Machine Begins Mining (press release) https://www.gatewayprogram.org/wp-con... Trains: Boring machine begins work on Hudson Tunnel (with video) https://www.trains.com/pro/passenger/... CICBCA: First Boring Machine Begins Work on Hudson Tunnel Project https://cicbca.org/first-boring-machi... Railway Gazette International: Gateway milestone reached as first Hudson Tunnel TBM prepares to start work https://www.railwaygazette.com/infras... Smart Cities Dive: $16B Hudson Tunnel rail project begins boring https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/news/... Amtrak Office of Inspector General: Major Programs: The Company Has Made Progress Supporting the Hudson Tunnel Project but Has Opportunities to Reduce Its Risk (OIG-A-2026-001) https://amtrakoig.gov/sites/default/f... Photos and video (Wikimedia Commons): US Capitol west side by Martin Falbisoner, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... NJT NEC enters Hudson Palisades by Hudconja, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... North Rvr Tunnels - S tube concrete forms 1907 by Photographer not identified., Public domain https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... #GatewayTunnel #HudsonTunnel #Megaprojects