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Sweeney Urges Quick Federal Action to Fund Gateway Rail Tunnel

Senate President Steve Sweeney addresses the full Senate for the first time in the 216th Legislature.

Senate President Commends Booker For Bringing Senate Hearing to New Jersey To Focus On Importance of Investment in Passenger Rail Service

TRENTON – Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) today urged Congress and Amtrak to make construction of a new Gateway rail tunnel their top transportation priority, warning that the region’s economy would be crippled if the 105-year-old, Sandy-damaged rail tunnels have to close before the new tunnel is built.

“No project is more critical to New Jersey’s economy than the construction of a new rail tunnel,” Sweeney said in written testimony submitted to the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Surface Transportation, chaired by U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.)

“My colleagues and I stand ready to partner with you, our regional congressional delegation and Amtrak to do everything we can to advance the Gateway rail tunnel project and to expand the capacity and quality of passenger rail service in the region,” he pledged.

Sweeney, who could not attend the hearing personally because of a previously scheduled Senate session day, commended Booker for bringing his subcommittee hearing to Newark to elicit testimony on the critical role that passenger rail service on the Northeast Corridor plays in the region’s economy.

Read Senator Sweeney’s full testimony here.