President Donald Trump received a blow in court on Friday evening as a judge ruled he cannot freeze federal funds for the Gateway Tunnel, a massively important $16 billion infrastructure project that adds new train capacity underneath the Hudson River connecting New York and New Jersey.
According to NBC News, “Construction on the project was expected to end Friday night without court intervention. Judge Jeannette Vargas has also asked for both parties to submit additional information on the issue within the next few days.”
The ruling is only temporary, but it gives the project a reprieve from shutting down for now.
Trains crossing under the Hudson River, including the critically important Northeast Corridor that includes America’s only current high-speed rail line, have long faced bottlenecks, as the current track tunnels are aging and inadequate to support the modern level of traffic.
The president has moved to shut down federal funding for a number of other projects, most notably the California High-Speed Rail project. The state initially moved to sue to reclaim those funds, but ultimately is proceeding without it; because this project is wholly within California and was always much more reliant on state funding than the Gateway Tunnel, it has continued apace, with the first track set to be laid this fall after years of delays and setbacks.
Earlier this week, Trump reportedly told Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) he would stop obstructing Gateway Tunnel funds if he agreed to pass legislation putting Trump’s name on New York Penn Station and Washington Dulles International Airport. Schumer refused this offer.
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