US state Governors Phil Murphy and Andrew Cuomo, the legislative leaders and members in New Jersey and New York states pass the bi-state Gateway Development Commission Act. This will make Gateway Program Development Corporation (GDC) a bi-state corporation. This will enable GDC to meet the mission of delivering Gateway Program and finally replacing a century-old, failing, one-track-in, one-track-out rail system with modern, reliable, 21st-century infrastructure to serve hundreds of thousands of daily riders and 20% of the nation’s GDP. 

The passage of this joint legislation puts over a critical hurdle in moving forward with the Gateway project and should once again alleviate any concerns raised by federal partners. It’s clear that New York, New Jersey, and Amtrak stand ready to get these projects done.

The legislation will make GDC an eligible recipient for the Federal, State and local grants needed to fund projects. In addition, it advances GDC’s role as an entity solely dedicated to overseeing the delivery of the Gateway Program and amplifying the active role of GDC's partners in New York, New Jersey, Amtrak, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and New Jersey Transit. 

During the coming period, as Commissioners are nominated and approved and the bi-state Commission is stood up to meet the language of the legislation, the Gateway Program Development Corporation will continue to coordinate and guide the work of project partners, and the current project sponsors the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for the Hudson Tunnel Project and NJ Transit for the Portal North Bridge Project, will continue advancing these projects to ensure to move Gateway forward as quickly as possible.

The Gateway Program is the planned phased expansion and renovation of the Northeast Corridor(NEC) rail line between Newark, New Jersey and New York Ciry, New York. This section of the NEC handles approximately 450 trains per day and over 200,000 daily Amtrak and NJ TRANSIT passenger trips and directly serves PSNY – the busiest rail station in America. This busy, 10-mile stretch of the NEC includes the North River Tunnel under the Hudson River.The Gateway Program focuses on a 10-mile segment of the NEC, and includes a program of projects that would replace and update rail infrastructure assets that, in many cases, are over 100 years old, as well as increase track, tunnel, bridge and station capacity. This segment of the NEC carries over 200,000 daily Amtrak and NJ TRANSIT passenger trips on approximately 450 trains.