Is this the tunnel the Gov Christie of NJ cancelled? If so, charge everyone getting off in NJ and extra $15.00 ..... or better yet, No Stops In NJ !!!!!
Clearly people are quite unaware of the details of the whole ARC fiasco and pass such simplistic judgements based on lack of knowledge.
No that was a different tunnel that would have been completely unusable by Amtrak.
Besides why would you charge NJ for this when NY never contributed a penny to ARC except for a fixed capped amount via PANYNJ? Is NJ now supposed to be the welfare donor of last resort for the region, and is NJ not a net donor state in the federal pool? As it turned out, due to unbelievable mismanagement driven by a combination of inattention and hubris (IMHO) of the previous administration, NJ became the sole bearer of all responsibility for the tunnel, which made no sense. It was a result of Warrington's overreach, after he screwed the pooch at Amtrak and came over to NJ Transit. Warrington needed some adult supervision which was not forthcoming from Corzine, who appointed Warrington.
Actually, we the rail advocates of both NY and NJ and at the national level, campaigned mightily to get ARC cancelled, and as it turns out, Christie was the only person who could do so and he did so for reasons that were a bit odd looking from outside. But the action resonated positively in NJ, since all cost overruns were to become NJ's responsibility. The real estate acquisition budget for the project had already been blown with considerable additional real estate yet to be acquired.
It also had some real strange Corzine style financial dealings involved, which was borderline illegal and would have gotten stuck in courts for years. We were actually in the process of getting the ball rolling had Christie not cancelled it. So all in all it was good that it got cancelled. It really was the result of a long drawn out grassroots effort, which was ready to go the course had Christie not cancelled it.
As far as Amtrak goes, its hands were politically tied to a project they did not want to happen. Unfortunately many of its patrons in Washington were advocates for this ill conceived tunnel project. No one at Amtrak was displeased with the cancellation of ARC. That in fact put Amtrak back in the drivers seat.
What does the Gateway Project have to do with Hurricane Sandy? Lets not steal funds that are needed for storm restoration to fund a project that has nothing to do with storm restoration.
I agree. Sandy relief fund has nothing to do with Gateway. Sandy Relief funding is supposed to fix infrastructure destroyed by Sandy and to build protective structures to prevent similar flooding from happening the next time. Using those funds to build a new tunnel, is exactly the sort of thing that gives the perpetrators a bad name through misuse of funds.
Protecting the current tunnels is legitimate use of funds and that involves building higher barrier walls around John D. Caemmerer West Side Yard and protective dykes around Sunnyside Yard and East River Tunnel entrances in Queens, facing the river. Those are all in the plans, but digging a new tunnel is not part of that plan. It also involves massive dyke building and power substation raising projects for both PATH and Amtrak/NJ Transit in the Jersey Meadows, as well as building protective barriers at FEMA + 2 level around NJT MMC and PATH Harrison Facility, both of which faced flooding from Sandy. Additionally NJT has already contracted for use of two yards one along the NEC and another in the Hoboken Division for evacuating equipment to for the next storm, out of flooding's way.
