The NJ/NY Gateway Tunnel Digging Has Begun!

Years ago, a mentor told me to keep an eye on something called the Gateway project. He said it could one day give the Bergen County train lines a direct ride into Penn Station.

Like most big projects in Jersey, I figured I'd believe it when I saw it.

Well, on Monday, I saw it!

The machine is on!

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul stood in North Bergen and fired up the first tunnel boring machine for the new Hudson River tunnel.

The thing is enormous... about 500 feet long, roughly one and a half football fields. It weighs about 1,700 tons and was custom built in Germany for the rock in the Palisades.

Yes, it will legitimately dig through the Palisades mountains.... wow. 

It will grind through solid rock at about 30 feet a day, building the tunnel walls behind it as it goes. A second machine will follow. Together they'll dig two side-by-side tubes.

At that pace, it's said it'll take about a year to get through the Palisades to Weehawken. 

Then new machines take over to dig under the river itself....

The new tunnel is scheduled to open in 2035. When everything is done, we'll have four tracks under the Hudson instead of two.

Why that matters for NJ Transit lines

More tracks under the river means room for more trains. And that's what opens the door to something called the Bergen Loop.

Right now, if you take the Bergen County Line from Rutherford or the Main Line from Lyndhurst, you have to switch at Secaucus to get to Penn Station.

The Bergen Loop is a curved track at Secaucus Junction. It would let our trains turn onto the main line and head straight into Penn. No transfer. No sprinting up the escalator and across the platform. 

It would connect three NJ Transit lines directly to the city: the Main Line, the Bergen County Line, and the Pascack Valley Line. 

The plan also calls for a bigger Secaucus Junction, with new tracks, platforms, and concourses.

Where the Bergen loop actually stands (2026)

While the tunnel is funded and under construction, the Bergen Loop is not... yet.

It isn't part of the $16 billion tunnel project. There's no funding locked in and no construction date. And it can't really work until the new tunnel opens, because Penn Station has no room for more trains right now.

But, the good news is that there is a lot of confidence this move will happen because it's one of the cheaper pieces of the plan and much of it can use land and tracks that already exist and it has strong support from Bergen County and from Rockland and Orange counties in New York. 

These areas want it!

So it's real.... It's just not guaranteed, and even in the best case, we're looking at after 2035. (are we getting an American-Dream construction delay vibe here? Maybe...) 

What this means for buyers & sellers in the area... 

If you're buying, I would still suggest buying for the commute you have today, not the one you could have in 10 years.... Rutherford and Lyndhurst already have solid access to the city, and this loop is the bonus. 

For sellers, I think it's a great selling point for long-term buyers entering the area, and not to mention the hockey stick appreciation of home valued all along the Bergen County line (if and when) this project is complete. 

I think it's super exciting to see something like this actually get executed between the states, even if it is a 10+ year project completion. 

Do you think a change like this will actually cause Bergen homes to dramatically appreciate?

I'm curious to hear from you guys! 

Are you interested in this, or is it just me?