N.Y. commuter train project gets $2.6B from DOT

Daily Journal of Commerce (Portland, OR), Dec 19, 2006 by DJC Staff

The federal Department of Transportation on Monday announced a record $2.6 billion agreement to fund a new network of train tunnels under New York City.

The project, designed to connect commuter trains from Long Island to Grand Central Terminal, is the largest-ever federal investment in a single transit project.

The project will include the construction of new tunnels under Manhattan and Queens that will connect to the existing 63rd Street Tunnel below the East River.

Long Island commuters currently have to ride trains into Penn Station on West 34th Street in Midtown and then backtrack via subway to jobs in and around eastern Midtown.

Commuters will shave more than 40 minutes off their daily commutes once the project is completed in 2013, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said.

The secretary also announced that the Department of Transportation would allow New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority to commit up to $693 million in funds to begin construction of the Second Avenue subway line and that the federal share of costs would be reimbursed with Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funds.

In addition, the FTA is providing $4.5 billion to help construct the Fulton Street Transit Center and build a permanent PATH terminal in Lower Manhattan.

"Our commitment to New York is broad in its scope and grand in its ambition," Secretary Peters said.

The federal funding will be provided between now and 2016.