Digging is expected to start on the two new rail tunnels planned between New Jersey and New York within a year, officials announced on Tuesday.
The Gateway Development Commission offered a glimpse at the lengthy preparation that’s taking place in North Bergen.
The so-called launch pad for those new tunnels sits below the Tonnelle Avenue Bridge. It’s where digging into the Palisades will start once a massive tunnel boring machine is assembled.
That boring machine, a portion of which is made of tungsten carbide, is currently sitting in several intricate pieces. Those pieces are being welded together. The machine will move through 30 feet of rock per day, with an expectation of reaching Weehawken, one mile away, in one year. From there, digging will start under the Hudson River to Manhattan.
“Our [tunnel boring machines (TBM)] are coming in as like Lego pieces. There’s eleven electrical motors behind this and makes the TBM spin. The total weight of the machine is 1,700 tons for each machine - 500 feet long," said Hamed Nejad, the chief engineer.
The Gateway Tunnel project is expected to be finished and open to commuters in 2035.
The current commuter rail tunnels under the Hudson River are over 100 years old.
