Passenger Bus, Rail and Motorcoach Industry News

Executive director Jim Weinstein said that the project was terminated based on a recommendation from a committee — headed by him — because New Jersey couldn’t afford it.

When he canceled it in October 2010, Gov. Christie said the price could reach $14 billion, with N.J. responsible for 70% of cost. Investigators found that the cost of the Hudson River rail tunnel project was estimated at $12.4 billion, with the state tabbed to pay 14.4%.

Although the agency's legal tab to fight feds cost $1.2 million, the $297 million lost stems from the engineering and design work, payments to contractors and various other items that were paid for but are now unnecessary with the cancellation of the project.

The new tunnels would significantly increase commuter train capacity by allowing NJ Transit to add an additional 13 trains per peak hour into New York City and it would increase the number of Amtrak trains into New York City by eight per hour.

Gov. Christie's administration is completing plans to hire a Washington law firm to try to stop the FTA from collecting money.

The $8.7 billion Access to the Region's Core (ARC) rail tunnel to New York, the largest public works project in the U.S., would be the first new rail tunnel built under the Hudson River in nearly 100 years.