NYC-To-NJ Gateway Tunnel Gets $300M 'Mega' Grant: Biden

NEW YORK CITY — Amtrak Joe wants to put an oft-derailed New York City-to-New Jersey rail tunnel back on track.

A nearly $300 million "mega" grant will go toward the Gateway tunnel project under the Hudson River, President Joe Biden announced Tuesday during a high-profile visit to the city.

The grant comes from a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bipartisan bill signed by Biden.

"This is just the beginning of finally constructing the 21st century rail system that's long, long overdue in this country," he said.

"This project is the most significant investment in rail since we created Amtrak over 50 years ago."

Plans to add new rail tunnels between the city and New Jersey have been long in the works.

But the project has experienced several delays, even after Hurricane Sandy struck in 2012 and created lasting underground damage to the existing century-old tunnel under the river.

Biden's visit to New York City didn't just commemorate the grant, but also formed as a celebratory pep rally for the Hudson Tunnel project itself, which will add two new tunnels and fix damage from Sandy.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called it a "major milestone in the most consequential infrastructure project in all of America."

"After many false starts and obstacles placed in our way, Gateway is full speed ahead," he said.

Gov. Kathy Hochul said the project will bring 72,000 jobs to the region.

She said it will also add much-needed redundancy and backups to the most used rail lines in the nation.

“We need this done,” she said. “This is the lifeblood not just of our region, but the entire nation’s economy.”

Biden noted that work actually started in 2013, but fell through because of lack of funding.

That won't happen again, he said.

"We're finally going to get it done," he said.