An Obama-era plan to have the federal government
finance half of a $13 billion rail tunnel project ran into a red light
Friday from the Trump administration.
The plan, proposed under President
Barack Obama in 2015, includes revitalizing a deteriorating Amtrak
tunnel connecting New Jersey to New York City, repairing damage to a
dual-tunnel conduit, and reconstructing the New Jersey railroad
network’s aging Portal Bridge, Crain’s New York Business reported.
Amtrak, which owns most of the rail tunnels and tracks
between Boston and Washington, D.C., contends that the existing tunnel
connecting New Jersey and New York City is damaged and could fail within
10 to 15 years, threatening daily rail transportation in the Northeast.
The original Obama-era plan called for costs to be split among New York state, New Jersey and the federal government.
'A local project'
But in a letter Friday, the Trump administration
notified New York and New Jersey that the Obama-era deal was now
"non-existent" because the states recently requested that their portions
be covered by loans from the federal government -- meaning Washington
would supply all of the initial funding for what the Trump White House
is calling "a local project."
"Your letter also references a non-existent '50/50'
agreement between USDOT, New York, and New Jersey. There is no such
agreement," wrote K. Jane Williams, deputy administrator of the Federal
Transit Administration. "We consider it unhelpful to reference a
non-existent 'agreement' rather than directly address the responsibility
for funding a local project where nine out of 10 passengers are local
transit riders."
"We consider it unhelpful to
reference a non-existent 'agreement' rather than directly address the
responsibility for funding a local project where nine out of 10
passengers are local transit riders."
- K. Jane Williams, deputy administrator, Federal Transit Administration
The letter raises questions about whether the so-called
Gateway project will be included in a $1 trillion national
infrastructure plan that President Donald Trump
is expected to unveil in January.
Gateway Development Corp., the project overseer
composed of representatives of New York, New Jersey and Amtrak,
dismissed Williams' letter as "posturing," adding in a statement Friday
that "we are confident that the Trump Administration will engage with us
as the President turns to infrastructure in 2018."
Tens of thousands of commuters
Proponents view Gateway as crucial for revitalizing
rail service in the New York City metro area, where multiple lines,
including Amtrak, carry tens of thousands of commuters into the city
each day -- in one of the nation's key economic regions.
They also note that having states borrow from the
federal government to finance infrastructure projects is not
unprecedented. Some allege that the Trump administration's action is
simply a political maneuver to put pressure on Senate Minority Leader
Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., a key supporter of the plan, Crain's reported.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is a key supporter of the $13 billion Obama-era Gateway rail-tunnel proposal.
(Associated Press)
New York business leaders have been adamant about the
project's importance, on account of the region’s economy, which provides
a large chunk of the U.S.’ GDP and sends hundreds of billions of tax
dollars to the federal government every year.
On Saturday, Crain's noted that a "senior [Trump]
administration official" clarified that the project's importance was not
in dispute. The administration mostly objected to the federal
government being relied upon to supply funds for New York and New
Jersey's shares of the costs.
The official noted that for other projects underway in
Hawaii and Maryland, federal loans compose only a fraction of the
capital investment, Crain's reported.
