The manufacture of the tunnel boring machines that will excavate the first mile of the Hudson River Tunnel of the Gateway project in New Jersey is about to finish, marking a significant step towards launch in 2026, said the Gateway Development Commission on August 20.
The two Herrenknecht TBMs are 85% and 73% complete respectively, with the first unit to be completed in the coming weeks and will be completed until November. Following the factory’s tests and acceptance this fall, the TBMS will be sent to New Jersey, mounted on the northern launch site of Bergen to prepare for the tunnel next year.
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“ The start of Tunnel Boring next year will mark the start of a new chapter for the Hudson Tunnel project, ” New York curator GDC and co-chair Alicia Glen, Commissioner of New Jersey GDC and Co-President Balprenet Grewal-Virk, and GDC Amtrak’s curator and Vice President Tony said in a joint statement. “We predict that we see these machines completely mounted and prepared for the launch next year.”
GDC’s CEO, Tom Tregergast, said that even with the modern mechanized tunnel, “the process of building a concrete tube under a river is still a significant challenge”, noting the almost two years of early work to prepare for the arrival of machines and “thousands of people from various construction teams” working to maintain the milestone during hours.
Preparation for launch
The TBM will excavate two parallel tubes for approximately one mile from the portal of Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen to an access axis to Hudson County. Each machine weighs 1,680 tons, with a head of 28 feet, 8 inches per day and with previous ones and extending about 500 feet.
Equipped with more than 1,000 sensors to trace the position, wear and tear of components, air quality and other metrics, the machines are expected to move about 30 feet a day as they install prefabricated concrete coatings.
Accounting for the planned maintenance, such as replacing the dropped discs, is expected that a year of new Jersey will take about a year.
GDC representatives are planning to travel to the TBM factory this fall to test and accept formal before sending to New Jersey. After mounting the assembly in the north of Bergen, the commission plans to start the tunnel boring in 2026.
Machines are built at Herrenknecht’s facilities in Germany. The manufacturer has also supplied TBMS for the East Access Tunnels of New York City, the SR 99 Double Road Tunnel, Seattle, and numerous international metro projects.
By head size, Hudson’s tunnel TBMs are smaller than the TBM 57.5 feet “Bertha”, which excavated the Mr 99 tunnel, but larger than those used for access to the east side, which ranged from 22 to 26 feet in diameter. The Hudson TBM tunnel “Twins” has not yet received a nickname.
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The recall contract engineer Record Record
At the same meeting, the GDC Board authorized a new contract with Gateway Trans Hudson Partnership Engineering, a joint WSP, AECOM and STV company, to serve as a record engineer and provide engineering services during the construction of the remaining Tunnel Hudson project packages. The joint company’s offer was the only one sent to GDC and has already been working on the project in this regard with a previous contract with Amtrak.
The commissioners also approved a project employment contract for the surface alignment contract of New Jersey, establishing uniform labor terms for contractors and subcontractors on this work.
The Hudson tunnel project, along with the plans to rehabilitate the northern northern northern tunnels, will go the largest program of the catwalk to add resilience and capacity to the north hallway -East, which has more than 2,200 daily train and 800,000 passenger trips.
