North River Tunnels

North River Tunnels

Western portal at Bergen Hill
Overview
Line	Northeast Corridor
Location	Hudson Palisades-Hudson River
Coordinates	40°45′31″N 74°00′45″W / 40.7585°N 74.0125°W / 40.7585; -74.0125Coordinates: 40°45′31″N 74°00′45″W / 40.7585°N 74.0125°W / 40.7585; -74.0125
System	Amtrak and NJ Transit
Start	Secaucus Junction in Secaucus (NJT); Newark Pennsylvania Station in Newark (Amtrak)
End	Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan, New York City
Further information Operation Constructed 1904-1908 Opened November 27, 1910; 106 years ago (November 27, 1910) Owner Amtrak Traffic Railroad Character Passenger Technical Design engineer Charles M. Jacobs Length 14,575 feet (4,442 m) No. of tracks 1 per tube Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge Electrified Third rail and Overhead lines Lowest elevation 175 feet (53.3 m) below Bergen Hill Depth of tunnel below water level 100 feet (30.5 m) below Hudson River Depth of shipping channel above ? Grade 1.30% in Weehawken, 1.923% in Manhattan North River Tunnels

Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan, New York City

The North River Tunnels are a pair of tunnels that carry Amtrak and New Jersey Transit rail lines under the Hudson River between Weehawken, New Jersey and Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan, New York City. Built between 1904 and 1908 by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) to allow its trains to reach Manhattan, they opened for passenger service in late 1910.

Led by Chief Engineer Charles M. Jacobs, the tunnel design team began work in 1902. After plans were complete in 1904, the first task was digging two shafts, one just east of 11th Avenue in Manhattan and a larger one a few hundred yards west of the river. The Weehawken Shaft was completed in September 1904 as a concrete-walled rectangular pit, 56 by 116 ft (17.1 by 35.4 m) at the bottom and 76 ft (23.2 m) deep.

When the shafts were complete, O'Rourke Engineering Construction Company began work on the tunnels proper. The project was divided into three parts, each managed by a resident engineer: The "Terminal Station" in Manhattan; the "River Tunnels", east from the Weehawken Shaft and under the Hudson River; and the Bergen Hill tunnels, west from the Weehawken Shaft to the tunnel portals on the west side of the Palisades. (At the time, "North River Tunnels" referred to the tunnels east of the Weehawken Shaft; in later years the term has come to include the Bergen Hill tunnels as well.)

The tunnels were built with drilling and blasting techniques and tunnelling shields, digging west from Manhattan, east and west from Weehawken, and east from the Bergen portals.