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Hudson River Rail Tunnel Talks Center on Scope, Funding Sources

The officials said in a joint statement issued after the Newark meeting that they would also work on “other funding and financing options”.

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The meeting will address the aging rail tunnels that, due to repairs last month, caused massive shut downs and commuter delays for those traveling into and out of New York. “We all recognize that the only way forward is equitable distribution of funding responsibility and the active participation of all parties”.

Clarifies that Cuomo said last week meeting would be premature; adds that Port Authority chairman attending meeting. They have put forth a new proposal, called the Gateway project, to build two new rail tunnels under the Hudson River to double the train capacity between New Jersey and New York.

Police in the New York village where Rosie O’Donnell lives says her teenage daughter was “of sound mind” when she was found in New Jersey after a week of being incommunicado.

In addition, two new tracks must be added between New Jersey stations Newark and Secaucus, where two now exist.

“Chris Christie’s delay of the tunnel, and basically walking away from it a number of years ago, has disqualified him from ever running for President of the United States, much less ever being a governor”, Stringer said.

“The condition of the trans-Hudson tunnels is a major threat to the region and to our nation’s transportation system”, Foxx wrote in July. What is known is that neither Christie nor Cuomo wants to pay for it. The current rail tunnel owned by Amtrak is more than 100 years old and sustained significant damage during Superstorm Sandy.

Currently, Amtrak workers can perform routine maintenance in the tunnel only for a few hours overnight and on weekends when one of the tunnel’s two tubes is routinely taken out of service, said Stephen Gardner, Amtrak’s vice president of Northeast Corridor infrastructure investment.

Some elements of the project already are in motion.

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But, the project failed to “live up to everything it was advertised to be” and taxpayers were on the hook for the project’s entire $13.7 billion price tag, which didn’t even include almost $800 million estimated to replace the 100-year-old portal bridge over the Hackensack River. As we reported back in April, Christie diverted a total of billion of highway toll increases and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey money originally earmarked for the tunnel to bail out Jersey’s finances – the biggest one-time budget fix of his administration.

“Chris Christie’s delay of the tunnel... has disqualified him from ever running for President of the United States much less ever being a governor,” said New York City Controller Scott Stringer