New Jersey Governor Halts Construction Of Train Tunnel To New York

Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey, decided to halt the construction of a train tunnel that was meant to connect New Jersey with Manhattan, claiming that New Jersey is not in a position to pay for the rising costs of the project that was already under way.

Over half a billion dollars have been spent on the rail line, and construction started last year. As the largest federal transport project in the US, the tunnel was expected to increase train traffic to and from New York City by two-fold during peak commuting hours once commenced in 2018. But the cost of the project also almost doubled over the years.

The project started in 2005 at $5 billion and expanded to $8.7 billion by the year 2008. During the last few months, Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff has said publicly that the tunnel may cost $9 billion to $10 billion. Christie said yesterday that his advisers believe that the costs could be as high as $11 billion to $14 billion.

“The bottom line is this, New Jersey has gone for too long and for too many decades ordering things that they can’t pay for,’’ the Republican governor told a press conference.

One month ago, Christie had ordered to halt construction for 30 days over concerns that the costs would exceed budget. He instructed the officials of state transportation yesterday to consider other options to expand and modernize rail network to New York.