Download coordinates as: The Gateway Project, as it was originally known, was unveiled on February 7, 2011, by Amtrak President Joseph H. Boardman and New Jersey Senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez.

It retained its below-ground passenger concourses and waiting areas, and sold its air rights, enabling construction of a new Madison Square Garden.

[33] In 1991, NJT opened the Waterfront Connection, extending service on several non-electrified trains which had previously terminated at Newark Penn Station to Hoboken.

The George Washington Bridge, opened in 1931, is used by suburban buses to GWB Bus Terminal, and connects Fort Lee, New Jersey, to upper Manhattan.

[48][49][50] Launched in 1995 by PANYNJ, NJT, and MTA, Access to the Region's Core (ARC) was a Major Investment Study that looked at public transportation ideas for the New York metropolitan area.

[58] That project, which did not include direct Amtrak participation,[57][59] was cancelled in October 2010 by New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who cited potential cost overruns.

In April 2011, Amtrak asked that $1.3 billion in United States Department of Transportation funding for NEC rail corridor improvements be allocated to Gateway and related projects.

[72] In December 2012, Amtrak requested $276 million from Congress to upgrade infrastructure damaged by Hurricane Sandy that would also eventually support trains run along the new Gateway Project right-of-way.

[89][90] In December 2015, federal legislation was introduced to allow Amtrak to operate the NEC as a financially separate entity that could invest profits from the line into its infrastructure.

The legislation also provided for more low-interest loans through changes in the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing and Capital Investment Grant (New Starts) federal funding programs.

[100][101] Kolluri resigned July 18, 2024, one month after he was repeatedly mentioned in the indictment of powerful South Jersey political boss George Norcross.

[103] Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Chairman John J. Degnan said in May 2015 that the agency "would step up to the plate" with regard to funding the project,[104][105] and in a September 2015 joint letter to Obama, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo offered to pay half of the project's cost if the federal government picked up the rest.

"[112][113] A bipartisan group of representatives from New Jersey disagreed, with Republican Rodney Frelinghuysen saying, "The people of Texas, victims of an historic storm (Hurricane Harvey), need additional federal disaster assistance.

[115][116] In March 2018, Trump directly pressured Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan to oppose federal funding for the Gateway Program in the omnibus spending bill that was then being worked on.

Schumer, who had become the Senate majority leader, said that month he was working with Biden administration Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to allocate $12 billion to the project.

[140][141] Schumer said the same month that construction on the project would commence in 2023 with $292 million in federal funding,[142] which Biden announced would be used to complete the Hudson Yards "tunnel box".

[6][7][12][13][58][176] In June 2020, Trump informed NJ Governor Phil Murphy that he would no longer oppose the Portal Bridge replacement, allowing the project to begin once it could be properly financed.

[177] Opened on December 15, 2003, at a cost of $450 million, Secaucus Junction (at 40°45′42″N 74°04′30″W / 40.76161°N 74.074985°W / 40.76161; -74.074985) is an interchange station served by nine of New Jersey Transit's rail lines, and is sited where Hoboken Terminal trains intersect with those traveling along the Northeast Corridor.

The Hudson Tunnel Project would also allow for resiliency on the Northeast Corridor to be increased, making service along the line more reliable with redundant capacity.

[28] In 2013, the New York City Council voted to extend the MSG Special Permit by up to ten years, in an effort to have the arena move to a different location so that a new station structure can be built in its place.

[228][229][230] In the early 1990s, then-New York Senator Daniel Moynihan championed a proposal to convert the James Farley Post Office to a train station.

In January 2016, New York governor Cuomo announced plans for a combined Penn-Farley Post Office complex, a project estimated to cost $3 billion.

[255] Based on development guidelines from the New York City Planning Commission, it is estimated that at 2015 prices it would cost between $769 million and $1.3 billion to buy the block bounded to the north and south by 31st and 30th streets, and to the east and west by Seventh and Eighth avenues.

[259][260][261] In July 2011, a bill passed by the House of Representatives threatened funding for the project and others announced at the same time,[262][263] but the money was released the following month.

[265][266] The track work is one of several projects planned for the "New Jersey Speedway" section of the NEC, which include a new station at North Brunswick, the Mid-Line Loop (a flyover for reversing train direction), and the re-construction of County Yard, to be done in coordination with NJT.

[264] In May 2011, a $294.7 million federal grant was awarded to address congestion at the USA's busiest rail junction and part of the Sunnyside Yard in Queens.

The work will allow for a dedicated track to the New York Connecting Railroad right of way for Amtrak trains arriving from or bound for New England, thus avoiding NJT and LIRR traffic.

[270] Amtrak applied in 2011 for $15 million for the environmental impact studies and preliminary engineering design to examine replacement options for the more than 100-year-old, low-level movable Pelham Bay Bridge over the Hutchinson River in the Bronx.

[274][275] In October 2011, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg reiterated his support for the NJ extension, estimated to cost around $10 billion and take ten years to complete, indicating that he would give approval by the end of his third term in 2013.

[279][280] In a November 2013 Daily News opinion article, the president of the Real Estate Board of New York and the chairman of Edison Properties called for the line to be extended to Secaucus in tunnels to be shared with the Gateway Project.