Trump administration releases funds for New York-New Jersey tunnel project

The Trump administration transferred the balance of federal funds it owed to the Gateway rail tunnel initiative on Wednesday, along with additional money beyond the original amount, clearing the path for work on the project to restart as early as next week.

Once finished, the project will increase the number of rail tunnels linking New York City and New Jersey, as well as repair a century-old tunnel that was heavily damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012 used by more than 200,000 travelers and 425 trains daily.

The New York governor, Kathy Hochul, announced on social media that the administration delivered the final installment tied to the $16bn cross-Hudson project connecting the cities.

“Following our preliminary court victory and my conversation with the President, the Trump Administration has released the remaining $127 million in overdue Gateway Tunnel funding,” Hochul wrote. “Construction resumes next week. A major win for workers and commuters.”

The move follows a ruling last week from a federal judge requiring Trump and the transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, to restore the suspended funding. The Trump administration is expected to challenge that ruling.

The president has withheld $205m in reimbursements for the project since the start of October. Trump reportedly demanded that Washington Dulles international airport and New York’s Penn Station be renamed for him in exchange for unfreezing the funds, drawing strong criticism from Democrats. Financial support for the effort had been run out on 6 February, forcing construction to stop.

Securing the funds marks a significant victory for Hochul, the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, and other Democratic leaders from New York and New Jersey. They had been pressing the administration for months since the Department of Transportation placed an indefinite hold on money for what is considered the country’s largest infrastructure undertaking.

“This is a huge win for New York, New Jersey, hundreds of thousands of commuters, thousands of union workers, and the economy of the entire region,” Schumer said in a statement on X. He said that an additional $127m had been given to the project from the federal government, bringing the total to $235m. He added that “workers will be coming back to work very shortly”.

Last year, Trump had declared the Gateway project “terminated.”. In a post on his Truth Social platform Monday, he doubled down on his opposition to the project, though he did not specify whether the federal funds would remain frozen.

“I am opposed to the future boondoggle known as ‘Gateway,’ in New York/New Jersey, because it will cost many BILLIONS OF DOLLARS more than projected or anticipated,” Trump wrote. “Gateway will likewise be financially catastrophic for the region, unless hard work and proper planning is done, NOW, to avoid insurmountable future cost overruns.”