Amtrak warns of more NYC rail tunnel delays

Amtrak officials are warning of more rail delays between New York and New Jersey because of train tunnel problems that have emerged as a political issue as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) runs for president, The Associated Press reports. 

Amtrak’s vice president of Northeast Corridor infrastructure investment, Stephen Gardner, told lawmakers in the New Jersey state legislature that train delays “could become the norm at some point” unless a new rail tunnel between New York and New Jersey is built, according to the report. 

Christie cancelled an earlier tunnel, which would have carried Amtrak and New Jersey Transit commuter trains under the Hudson River, early in his first gubernatorial term in 2010.

{mosads}The AP reported Amtrak’s Garnder said the company is focusing now on keeping the existing tunnel “in working order to support the traffic we have today,” while it pushes for construction of a new tunnel project that has been proposed as an alternative to the one Christie cancelled.

Transportation advocates have said the original tunnel that was canceled by Christie would have eased commutes between New Jersey and New York City. 

Christie cited concerns about cost overruns  about the tunnel he cancelled in 2010. The now-presidential hopeful also criticized the fact that the proposed tunnel he rejected would not have carried trains directly to New York City’s Pennslyvania Station, which houses Amtrak trains in the city. 

Christie has said recently on the campaign trail as he runs for president that he would be willing to revisit the issue of tunnel if New York is willing to up its contribution to the project, but not if the proposal is identical to the earlier project he cancelled in 2010. 

Transportation advocates are accusing him of changing his tune about the importance of increasing rail capacity between NewYork and New Jersey now that he is trying to woo voters nationally. 

Amtrak officials have identified expanding train capacity between New Jersey and New York as one of the company’s most pressing needs. 

Transportation Department officials in the Obama administration have also sought to meet with Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) about the condition of the rail tunnel between New York and New Jersey.

Cuomo said Monday that he is unwilling to pay for construction of a new rail tunnel between New York and New Jersey, according to the report. 

“It’s not my tunnel. Why don’t you pay for it?” he told reporters, according to the AP. 

“It is an Amtrak tunnel that is used by Amtrak and by New Jersey Transit,” Cuomo continued.  

-This story was updated at 5:20 p.m.