Hudson Yards Concrete Casing

When complete, the concrete casing will preserve the ability to construct a new tunnel that connects New Jersey with Penn Station, as envisioned in the Hudson Tunnel Project.

It also preserves the ability to meet the growing demand for passenger rail service west of the Hudson River and throughout the Northeast by expanding rail capacity under the Gateway Program.

With funding from Congress and the Federal Railroad Administration, Amtrak and partners are constructing a concrete casing beneath the Hudson Yards in Midtown Manhattan to preserve the underground right-of-way for a future rail tunnel connecting to New York Penn Station.

To protect the alignment for a future rail tunnel beneath the Hudson Yards development on the west side of Manhattan, Amtrak has constructed two sections of a concrete casing underground between 10th and 11th Avenues and 30th and 33rd Streets. Construction of the first 800-foot section (between 10th and 11th Avenues) began in August 2013 and was completed about a year later. The second section extended the project west another 105 feet under the 11th Avenue viaduct in Manhattan and was completed in 2018. The next step involves extending the casing on a diagonal alignment from 11th Avenue to 30th Street, in coordination with the Hudson Tunnel Project and private development of Hudson Yards. Early work has begun to relocate Long Island Rail Road utilities out of the path of the third section.

In 2023, the Hudson Yards Concrete Casing project received a $292 million Mega grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT). This is the first of several expected funding announcements for the project in 2023. Additional information about the Mega grant can be found in USDOT’s FY23 Mega Program fact sheets.

Get more details at the FRA's project page.