NEW YORK — Federal money is once again flowing to the Hudson Tunnel project, as the Department of Transportation released the first $30 million in overdue funds today (Friday, Feb. 13).
The money is the first portion of more than $200 million which has been withheld by the Trump administration since last October. It was released after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Thursday declined to overrule an earlier ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Jeannette Vargas that required the funds to be released. The news site amNY.com reports the appeals court instead referred the matter to another panel of judges, meaning Vargas’ ruling immediately went into effect.
Vargas ruled last week that the government must release the money while the case is being tried, saying the states had shown they would suffer immediate harm from the shutdown of the tunnel project and that they were likely to win the case on its merits. [see “Judge orders funds released …,” Trains.com, Feb. 7, 2026]. She subsequently stayed that ruling to give the appeals court time to consider the administration’s appeal.
The New York Times reports that administration officials told Vargas they would begin releasing the funds during a hearing today, and the Gateway Development Commission, which oversees the $16 billion tunnel project, confirmed this evening that it had received some money.
“We have received an initial disbursement of $30 million from the federal government and expect to receive the full $205 million in reimbursement funds,” the commission said in a statement. “Construction remains paused for now, and we are working with our contractors to plan how to deploy these funds in the most effective way and get workers back on the job to resume some construction as soon as possible.”
Work on the tunnel halted on Friday, Feb. 6, as the commission said it had exhausted its credit while awaiting money from the Department of Transportation. The federal government had committed to provide 70% of the funds for the project, or about $11 billion, with the states of New York and New Jersey splitting the remaining 30%.
Those states brought the suit that prompted the Vargas ruling. They argued that the Trump administration was illegally withholding the funds as an act of “political retribution” [see “New York, New Jersey sue …,” Trains.com, Feb. 4, 2026]. The Gateway Commission also filed a suit last week, on the grounds the government had breached its contract by not releasing the money in a timely fashion.
“Today we made progress,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement. “$30 million has finally been released, and a court-ordered report will force transparency on the remaining funds. But the job isn’t done. Full funding must be restored now.”
— To report news or errors, contact trainsnewswire@firecrown.com.
Of all people who should realize that this is good for the American public, who do not have the wherewithal to board the major airlines not to mention they cannot afford to fly privately (you know who I mean).
This is something that has been put off for far too long. Who wants to be the one to inform people of a catastrophic event if one of the original tubes fail.
This is not something that should not be politicized!
Would a more accurate title be “Federal Government •Resumes• Releasing Money for Hudson Tunnel Project”?
Do any Trains Pro subscribers know US History?
Have ANY of you even read the US Constitution?
Article II, Section I: “The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.”
That’s SINGULAR (“A President”, emphasis added)
Nuf said
So why no criticisms of Obama who refused to fund this?
It is surprising that to date nothing has appeared in the local press reporting on the methods/practices used in the work stoppage and the restart this week. On the other hand big articles today on the chaos caused by the portal bridge work cutover. NJT customers biggly troubled.
Charles: I knew Kevin Gregorio. My wife’s mother (R.I.P) lived in Pittsfield and we spent many vacations visiting her and staying in her house. Evenings I would borrow her car, go down to the station (Amshack) and watch #449 arrive, load up, and head west. That’s where and how I met Kevin. He was a regular
on the platform. We hit it off and actually daytripped to New York City once on Amtrak from Albany/Rensselaer.
MARK — I believe I may have once met Kevin Gregoire in Detroit (not sure) and I believe I once met you in LaGrange (Illinois).
Once Ms. L. and I drove through Pittsfield for no apparent reason — nothing wrong with the scenery had we stayed WB on the Mass Pike as usual – a chance in a thousand happened to see 448 at the station.
I have ridden 448 and 449 a few times, 1983 the most recent.
MARK — Another Pittsfield – area train passenger I once saw — the New Haven train up from New York and Danbury. This may have been a seasonal train. It was in the summer, some time in the early 1960’s This was a family outing to the Tanglewood music festival in Lenox. We saw the NB train at a grade crossing in Lee or Lenox. If I noticed the engine I’d have forgotten it long ago. The coaches were plain steel, not the stainless-clad rolling stock universal on the main line.
Speaking of Danbury, I read a book on the making of “Strangers on a Train”, a film by Alfred Hitchcock. The author wrote that the depot scenes were filmed in “Danville”, Connecticut, which I guess means Danbury. Sadly no credit to the New Haven Railroad. The author also talked about a railroad named “Pennsylvania Express” and said that the opening scenes were filmed at “Pennsylvania Station” in Washington, D.C. These publishers should hire one of us as fact checkers.
There WAS a tunnel project being advanced during the Obama Administration known as Access to the Region’s Core (ARC). However, in 2010, Governor Chris Christie stopped ARC and redirected New Jersey’s portion of the funding to road projects.
Unfortunately, once a project is stopped, it cannot simply be turned on again, like a water faucet.
Planning for the project was restarted around 2011 and by mid-2015, a top Obama administration transportation official declared Gateway “the most important rail project in the United States.” The project was moving forward but was stopped by the first Trump administration. It was restarted by the Biden administration and the first construction contracts were awarded in September 2023.
Don’t attribute the lack of progress on the Gateway Tunnel project to any administration’s support for the California high speed rail system.
Anyone who claims to be a Republican at this point has a lot to answer for. This sort of nonsense is the least of it, frankly.
The GOP has no idea what will happen to it after Trump dies. There will be ugly internecine warfare within the party, that much is certain.
MIKE — Thanks for your notes. In response:
Your first paragraph. Anyone who supports Trump has a lot to answer for. I was a Republican before Trump was and will be after he dies if I survive him (we’re almost the same age, a few months difference). I never wanted him to be the Republican nominee. He has always creeped me out.
Your second paragraph: The Republicans who support Trump (which is most of them) have no idea what’s going on now, let alone in the future.
AS an independent with republican leanings have to see the republican party as coming apart at the seams. Not good. However, the possibility of a national insurgency being implemented just before NOV elections might change things.
Comments by Joseph Wynne, Laurence Carbonetti and alan jones (below) are all completely valid. It’s not just the politics of the situation that repels me, it’s the fact that this is no way to get anything built. Mr. Trump is a developer, so he knows that. This is his backdoor way to kill the project entirely.
Jospeh Wynne calls Mr. Trump a “vindictive psychotic idiot” which is accurate to a point. Mr. Trump deserves stronger words but those words might get Joseph banned from posting.
Last Monday at a political rally I told a Waukesha County (Wisconsin) Republican bigwig that the Republican Party will cease to exist after the November elections. He told me to shut up. I’m a Republican. Trump is not a Republican. He is a big-government lunatic.
Don’t worry, Charles, Mr. Wynne’s blather will be exceeded as soon as our friend Galen Riley puts in his one cent. I agree that the “lunatic” is dead wrong on this issue, and not just because I’m a rah rah train guy. I think he’s dead right on a few matters beyond tunnels, like illegal immigration, law and order, border security, inflation reduction, foreign affairs, and energy policy, to name a few. If I shudder at all, it’s the notion that there might have been a President Harris. So let’s widen our vision and come to more reasoned conclusions. Ok guys, cone on! Have at me!
GEORGE – Thanks to Trump there will be a president Kamala (or Gavin or Josh or Rahm) in 2029, as well as solid Dem majorities in both houses of Congress and down ballot in the states.
If the election were held today instead of November 2024, Kamala would carry 47 states, all except Utah, Idaho and West Virginia.
As a Republican I agree with you on Trump’s important accomplishments. Doesn’t change the fact that he’s a raving lunatic.
This is one of the most important infrastructure projects in this country, the project and the money was already approved and it’s being held hostage by the the vindictive psychotic idiot in the White House. Hopefully any appeals from the administration will get thrown out. The withholding of allocated funds is pathetic willfully destructive BS. This tunnel should have been built 10 years ago.
This project should have been funded and started during the eight years of Barack Obama presidency. But sadly his people decided to fund what has become a disgraceful money pit, CAHSR. Yes I’m an easterner, grew up in New York City, became a short-term midwesterner after moving to Chicago and getting a job as a tower op at the IC Commuter Division, after 1987 Metra’s Electric District, and then promotion to train dispatcher in 1995, then in retirement going back east to my wife’s native Berkshire County MA. But my strong bias in favor of Gateway as opposed to CAHSR is not because I see Amtrak’s NEC as “Nothing Else Counts”, as some have put it.
Thanks for your post, Mark. Do you realize that that both the most important Pittsfield residents are named Mark? The other being the late Mark Henry Belanger (R.I.P.). Oh, I forgot Kevin Gregoire, who if I recall also has passed.
I wonder how much money was wasted in the process of halting and then restarting–for no real reason at all.
Will the DOT just dribble out the funds with them not ever enough for the project go full bore??
If President Trump tells SecTrans Sean Duffy to do that, Mr. Duffy will obey. After all, like all the cabinet secretaries he, like SecDef Pete Hegseth says, “serves at the pleasure of the President” and he will obey.,