Gateway Project – It's an Issue of Funding
If Christie and Cuomo have their way, federal support for the new Hudson River tunnel won’t end at grants. The U.S. Transportation Department runs the Railroad Rehabilitation & Improvement Financing program, which has up to $35 billion in lending authority and offers low-interest loans with long repayment periods and a six-year grace period before repayment begins, according to the DOT. Under those terms, New Jersey could borrow $3 billion at 2 percent interest, for example,
Christie, Cuomo ask Obama to pay for half of Hudson River rail tunnel
In a surprise move that may help build a new train tunnel across the Hudson River before the existing tunnel fails, Governor Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo asked President Obama to have the federal government cover half of the project’s estimated $20 billion cost, plus potentially billions more in federal loans that the states eventually would repay. The joint letter, released Tuesday, came as a surprise, a source close to the negotiations said, because of comments b
Cuomo Letter to the Editor – New York Times on Rail Tunnel
Governor Cuomo wrote a letter to the editor that appeared in the New York Times in response to an editorial suggesting that he is “not “on board” with a new Amtrak rail tunnel under the Hudson River. In the letter he explains that he has said repeatedly that he vigorously supports the idea of a new tunnel and has expressed the desperate need for expediting its construction. He said he has even offered to help fund the tunnel and accelerate its review process. He believes that
