First Boring Machine Begins Work
on Hudson Tunnel Project
NEW YORK– The Gateway Development Commission announced on Oct. 8 that the Hudson Tunnel Project’s first tunnel boring machine began mining on schedule. A second tunnel boring machine will launch in the coming weeks.
These two machines will build the first 5,100 feet of the new rail tunnel tubes in New Jersey, from the tunnel portal in North Bergen to the Hudson County Access Shaft on the border of Weehawken and Hoboken, NJ. When they reach the access shaft, they will be removed and replaced with a second pair of machines designed for the mixed ground conditions under the Hudson River.
These tunnel boring machines are expected to build roughly 30 feet of tunnel per day, including scheduled pauses for maintenance. It will take approximately one year to build this section of the tunnel tubes, GDC officials stated.
Alicia Glen, New York GDC Commissioner and Co-Chair, Balpreet Grewal-Virk, New Jersey, GDC Commissioner and Co-Chair, and Tony Coscia, GDC Amtrak Commissioner and Vice Chair, said in a joint statement, “Before our tunnel boring machine started digging, it had been nearly 120 years since the last train tunnel under the Hudson River was excavated. We are far overdue for an upgrade, and the hundreds of thousands of riders who deal with the fallout from train delays know it. With the start of tunnel boring operations, we showed that we are taking action to deliver the modern infrastructure America needs.”
The tunnel boring machine that launched and the second machine that will launch later this fall are single shield machines designed to efficiently tunnel through hard, dry rock. They each have a 28- foot, 8-inch-diameter cutterhead and trailing gantries that extend roughly 500 feet and weigh more than 1,680 tons.
The Hudson Tunnel Project is separated into 10 construction packages. This stretch of tunnel boring and construction of the Hudson County Access Shaft are part of the Palisades Tunnel Project package. Schiavone Lane Dragados JV is leading construction of this package, with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey managing project delivery in partnership with GDC.
Published: October 14, 2026.