[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 84 (Monday, May 2, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26308-26312]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-10277]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Railroad Administration


Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Hudson Tunnel 
Project in Hudson County, New Jersey and New York County, New York

AGENCY: Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Department of 
Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Notice of intent (NOI) to prepare an Environmental Impact 
Statement (EIS).

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SUMMARY: Through this Notice, FRA announces its intent to jointly 
prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) with the New Jersey 
Transit Corporation (NJ TRANSIT) for the Hudson Tunnel Project (the 
Proposed Action or the Project) under the National Environmental Policy 
Act (NEPA). The Proposed Action is

[[Page 26309]]

intended to preserve the current functionality of the Northeast 
Corridor's (NEC) Hudson River rail crossing between New Jersey and New 
York and strengthen the resilience of the NEC. The Project would 
consist of construction of a new rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River, 
including railroad infrastructure in New Jersey and New York connecting 
the new rail tunnel to the existing NEC, and rehabilitation of the 
existing NEC tunnel beneath the Hudson River, referred to as the North 
River Tunnel. The EIS will evaluate the potential environmental impacts 
of a reasonable range of alternatives, including the No Action (No 
Build) Alternative. As appropriate, FRA and NJ TRANSIT will coordinate 
with the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak), as owner of 
the North River Tunnel, and the Port Authority of New York and New 
Jersey (PANYNJ) on the EIS.
    FRA invites the public and all interested parties to provide 
comments on the scope of the EIS, including the proposed purpose and 
need, the Proposed Action and alternatives to be considered in the EIS, 
potential environmental impacts of concern and methodologies to be used 
in the EIS, the approach for public and agency involvement, and any 
other particular concerns about the potential impacts of the Proposed 
Action.

DATES: Persons interested in providing written comments on the scope of 
the EIS must do so by May 31, 2016. Please submit written comments via 
the internet, email, or mail, using the contact information provided 
below.
    Persons may also provide comments orally or in writing at the 
public scoping meetings. FRA and NJ TRANSIT will hold two scoping 
meetings on the following dates:
     May 17, 2016, at the Hotel Pennsylvania, Gold Ballroom, 
3rd Floor, 401 Seventh Avenue at West 33rd Street, New York, New York 
10001.
     May 19, 2016, at Union City High School, 2500 Kennedy 
Boulevard, Union City, New Jersey 07087.
    Both days will include an afternoon session from 3 to 5 p.m. with a 
brief presentation about the Proposed Action at 4 p.m., and an evening 
session from 6 to 8 p.m. with a brief presentation about the Proposed 
Action at 7 p.m. The public can review Project information, talk 
informally with members of the study staff, and formally submit 
comments to the FRA (to a stenographer or in writing). The meeting 
facilities will be accessible to persons with disabilities. Spanish 
language translators will be present. If you need special translation 
or signing services or other special accommodations, please contact the 
Project team five days prior to the meeting at 973-261-8115, or email 
[email protected].
    FRA and NJ TRANSIT will give equal consideration to oral and 
written comments.

ADDRESSES: The public and other interested parties are encouraged to 
comment via the internet at the Project's Web site 
(www.hudsontunnelproject.com) or via email at 
[email protected]. You can also send written comments by 
mail to persons identified below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Amishi Castelli, Ph.D., Environmental 
Protection Specialist, Office of Railroad Policy and Development, USDOT 
Federal Railroad Administration, One Bowling Green, Suite 429, New 
York, NY 10004, or [email protected]; or Mr. RJ Palladino, AICP, 
PP, Senior Program Manager, NJ TRANSIT Capital Planning, One Penn Plaza 
East--8th Floor, Newark, NJ 07105, or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: FRA and NJ TRANSIT will prepare the EIS in 
compliance with NEPA, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) 
regulations implementing NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), and the FRA 
Procedures for Considering Environmental Impacts (FRA's Environmental 
Procedures) (64 FR 28545, May 26, 1999; 78 FR 2713, Jan. 14, 2013). 
Consistent with Section 11503 of the Fixing America's Surface 
Transportation Act of 2015 (FAST Act), FRA and NJ TRANSIT will prepare 
the EIS consistent with 23 U.S.C. 139. After release and circulation of 
a Draft EIS for public comment, FRA intends to issue a single document 
that consists of the Final EIS and Record of Decision under Public Law 
112-141, 126 Stat. 405, Section 1319(b) unless it determines the 
statutory criteria or practicability considerations preclude issuing a 
combined document.
    The EIS will also document compliance with other applicable 
Federal, state, and local environmental laws and regulations, including 
Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA); the 
Conformity requirements of the Clean Air Act; the Clean Water Act; 
Section 4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act of 1966 (Section 
4(f)); the Endangered Species Act; Executive Order 11988 and USDOT 
Order 5650.2 on Floodplain Management; Executive Order 11990 on 
Protection of Wetlands; the Magnuson-Stevens Act related to Essential 
Fish Habitat; the Coastal Zone Management Act; and Executive Order 
12898 on Environmental Justice. The EIS will provide FRA, NJ TRANSIT, 
and other cooperating and participating agencies and the public with 
information about alternatives that meet the Proposed Action's purpose 
and need, including their environmental impacts and appropriate 
measures to avoid, minimize, and mitigate those impacts.
    The Proposed Action may affect historic properties and will be 
subject to the requirements of Section 106 of the NHPA (54 U.S.C. 
306108). Consistent with regulations issued by the Advisory Council on 
Historic Preservation (36 CFR part 800), FRA intends to coordinate 
compliance with Section 106 of the NHPA with the preparation of the 
EIS. The public and interested parties may also provide input relevant 
to FRA's review under Section 106 including identifying potentially 
eligible resources and the potential effect of the Proposed Action on 
those resources. In addition, the public or other interested parties 
may also request to participate in the Section 106 process as a 
consulting party under 36 CFR part 800.

Project Background

    The existing NEC rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River is known as 
the North River Tunnel. This tunnel is used by Amtrak for intercity 
passenger rail service and by NJ TRANSIT for commuter rail service. The 
approach to the tunnel begins east of NJ TRANSIT's Frank R. Lautenberg 
Station in Secaucus, New Jersey (which is 5 miles east of Amtrak and NJ 
TRANSIT's Newark Penn Station). East of the Secaucus station, the NEC 
has two tracks that approach the tunnel on a raised embankment through 
the towns of Secaucus and North Bergen, New Jersey. Tracks enter a 
tunnel portal in North Bergen, passing beneath Union City and 
Weehawken, New Jersey and the Hudson River before emerging within the 
Penn Station New York (PSNY) rail complex in New York City. The tunnel 
has two separate tubes, each accommodating a single track for 
electrically powered trains, and extends approximately 2.5 miles from 
the tunnel portal in North Bergen to PSNY. The existing North River 
Tunnel is a critical NEC asset and is the only intercity passenger rail 
crossing into New York City from New Jersey and areas west and south.
    The NEC is the most heavily used passenger rail line in the U.S., 
both in terms of ridership and service frequency. Amtrak operates over 
the

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entire NEC, providing regional service, long distance service, and 
high-speed Acela Express service. Amtrak owns the majority of the NEC, 
including the North River Tunnel. NJ TRANSIT operates an extensive 
commuter rail network in New Jersey that extends to Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania; Orange and Rockland Counties in New York; and New York 
City. Amtrak's NEC service and NJ TRANSIT's commuter rail service 
provide connections between the major cities of the Mid-Atlantic and 
Northeast states and commuter access for thousands of people who work 
in the region. Therefore, both services are important to the region's 
economy. In 2014, Amtrak carried approximately 24,000 weekday 
passengers each day on more than 100 trains between New York and New 
Jersey. NJ TRANSIT carried almost 90,000 weekday passengers each day on 
approximately 350 trains between New York and New Jersey.
    Extensive engineering work and environmental documentation have 
been prepared over the past two decades for a new Hudson River rail 
tunnel. This has included the detailed studies and design conducted for 
the Access to the Region's Core (ARC) project from 1995 through 2010. 
The ARC project evaluated several options for construction of a new 
tunnel under the Hudson River in combination with an expansion of 
station capacity in midtown Manhattan to accommodate growing passenger 
demand. In addition, Amtrak conducted the Gateway Program Feasibility 
Study in 2011-2013, which assessed options for constructing a new 
Hudson River tunnel. Amtrak's Gateway Program envisions a series of 
improvement projects to upgrade and expand the capacity of the NEC. 
While many of the Gateway improvements are still being fully defined, a 
new Hudson Tunnel on the NEC is urgently needed to maintain existing 
service.
    In 2012, the FRA launched the NEC FUTURE study to consider the role 
of rail passenger service in the context of current and future 
transportation demands and to evaluate the appropriate level of 
capacity improvements to make across the NEC. The intent of the NEC 
FUTURE program is to help develop a long-term vision and investment 
program for the NEC. Through NEC FUTURE, FRA is currently evaluating 
overall capacity improvements and environmental consequences associated 
with improved NEC rail services, including trans-Hudson service. 
However, as described above, this Proposed Action addresses a specific 
need due to the deterioration of the existing North River Tunnel and 
can be considered independently from the other projects analyzed in the 
NEC FUTURE EIS. All three build alternatives evaluated in the NEC 
FUTURE Tier 1 Draft EIS FRA released in November 2015 included new 
Hudson River tunnel investments similar to this Proposed Action. This 
EIS may incorporate the appropriate analysis and other relevant 
elements from the NEC FUTURE Tier 1 EIS while focusing on the issues 
specific to this independent Project.
    As appropriate, FRA and NJ TRANSIT will use the work conducted for 
the ARC project and Amtrak's feasibility study to provide baseline 
information for the study of the Proposed Action. While the Proposed 
Action addresses maintenance and resilience of the NEC Hudson River 
crossing, it would not increase rail capacity. At the same time, the 
Proposed Action would not preclude other future projects to expand rail 
capacity in the area. Accordingly, although the Proposed Action may 
also be an element of a larger program to expand rail capacity, it 
would meet an urgent existing need and will be evaluated as a separate 
project from any larger initiative. Ultimately, an increase in service 
between Newark Penn Station and PSNY would not occur until other 
substantial infrastructure capacity improvements are built in addition 
to a new Hudson River rail tunnel. These improvements will be the 
subject of one or more separate design, engineering, and appropriate 
environmental reviews.

Purpose and Need

    The purpose of the Proposed Action is: (1) To preserve the current 
functionality of Amtrak's NEC service and NJ TRANSIT's commuter rail 
service between New Jersey and PSNY by repairing the deteriorating 
North River Tunnel; and (2) to strengthen the NEC's resiliency to 
support reliable rail service by providing redundant capacity under the 
Hudson River for Amtrak and NJ TRANSIT NEC trains between New Jersey 
and the existing PSNY. These improvements must be achieved while 
maintaining uninterrupted commuter and intercity rail service and by 
optimizing the use of existing infrastructure.
    Service reliability through the tunnel has been compromised due to 
damage to tunnel components Superstorm Sandy caused, when it inundated 
both tubes in the North River Tunnel with seawater in October 2012. 
That storm resulted in the cancellation of all Amtrak and NJ TRANSIT 
service into New York City for five days. Although the tunnel was 
restored to service and is now safe for travel, chlorides from the 
seawater remain in the tunnel's concrete liner and bench walls, causing 
ongoing damage to the bench walls, imbedded steel, track, and signaling 
and electrical components.
    The damage Superstorm Sandy caused is compounded by the tunnel's 
age and the intensity of its current use (operating at capacity to meet 
current demands), resulting in frequent delays due to component 
failures within the tunnel. With no other Hudson River passenger rail 
crossing into PSNY, single-point failures can suspend rail service, 
causing delays that cascade up and down the NEC as well as throughout 
NJ TRANSIT's commuter system, disrupting service for hundreds of 
thousands of passengers. For example, on March 17, 2016, a NJ TRANSIT 
train became disabled in one of the tunnel's tubes during the morning 
peak period, resulting in delays to 57 other Amtrak and NJ TRANSIT 
trains headed into and out of PSNY that day. Service disruptions will 
continue and will over time happen more frequently as the deterioration 
from the seawater inundation continues and components fail in an 
unpredictable manner.
    Because of the importance of the North River Tunnel to essential 
commuter and intercity rail service between New Jersey and New York, 
City, rehabilitation of the existing North River Tunnel must be 
accomplished without unacceptable reductions in weekday service. 
Removing one tube in the existing North River Tunnel from operation 
without new capacity in place would reduce weekday service to volumes 
well below the current maximum capacity of 24 peak direction trains per 
hour.
    In addition, the existing two-track North River Tunnel is operating 
at full capacity and does not provide redundancy for reliable train 
operations during disruptions or maintenance. Therefore, any service 
disruption results in major passenger delays and substantial reductions 
to overall system flexibility, reliability and on-time performance. 
This condition is exacerbated by the need to perform increased 
maintenance to address damage Superstorm Sandy caused. These 
maintenance demands are difficult to meet because of the intensity of 
rail service in the tunnel. Efforts to maintain the North River Tunnel 
in a functional condition currently require nightly and weekend tunnel 
outages with reductions in service due to single-track operations. 
Train service is adjusted to allow the closure of one tube of the North 
River Tunnel each weekend for maintenance for a 55-hour window 
beginning Friday evening and ending early Monday morning.

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Proposed Action and Alternatives

    The Proposed Action, the Hudson Tunnel Project, consists of:
     A new NEC rail tunnel with two tubes and electrified 
tracks beneath the Hudson River, extending from a new tunnel portal in 
North Bergen, New Jersey to the PSNY rail complex;
     Ventilation shaft buildings above the tunnel on both sides 
of the Hudson River to provide smoke ventilation during emergencies;
     Modifications to the existing NEC tracks in New Jersey and 
additional track on the NEC to connect the new tunnel to the NEC, 
beginning just east of Frank R. Lautenberg Station in Secaucus, New 
Jersey, and approaching the new tunnel portal in North Bergen, New 
Jersey;
     Modifications to connecting rail infrastructure at PSNY to 
connect the new tunnel's tracks to the existing tracks at PSNY; and
     Rehabilitation of the existing North River Tunnel.
Once the North River Tunnel rehabilitation is complete, both the old 
and new tunnel would be in service, providing redundant capacity and 
increased operational flexibility for Amtrak and NJ TRANSIT.
    In addition to those permanent features, the Proposed Action would 
involve the following types of construction activities, which will be 
described and evaluated in the Draft EIS:
     Construction of new tracks along the NEC between Frank R. 
Lautenberg Station and the new tunnel portal;
     Construction of the new tunnel using Tunnel Boring Machine 
(TBM) technology, which is conducted underground from a tunnel portal. 
At this time, it is anticipated that tunneling would likely occur from 
the New Jersey side of the new tunnel;
     Construction staging sites near the tunnel portal and at 
the vent shaft site in New Jersey. These locations would be used to 
access the tunnel and to remove rock from the tunnel while it is being 
bored;
     Construction staging site at the vent shaft site in 
Manhattan; and
     Potential construction activities that affect the Hudson 
River riverbed above the tunnel location.
    Alternatives will be developed based on the purpose of and need for 
the Project, information obtained through the scoping process, and 
information from previous studies. The EIS process will consider a No 
Action Alternative and a reasonable range of Build Alternatives 
identified through an alternatives development process. The Draft EIS 
will document the alternatives development and screening process. On 
the basis of that screening process and further analysis in the Draft 
EIS itself, FRA anticipates that the Draft EIS will also identify and 
describe the Preferred Alternative consistent with 40 CFR 1502.14(e).

Possible Effects

    Consistent with NEPA and FRA's Environmental Procedures, the EIS 
will consider the potential direct, indirect, and cumulative effects of 
the Project alternatives on the social, economic, and environmental 
resources in the study area. This analysis will include identification 
of study areas; documentation of the affected environment; evaluation 
of direct and indirect effects of the alternatives; and identification 
of measures to avoid and/or mitigate adverse impacts.
    The analysis will include detailed consideration of impacts that 
would occur during the Project's construction--including construction 
of the new tunnel and rehabilitation of the existing tunnel--as well as 
consideration of the impacts once the construction is complete. The 
Proposed Action would not expand capacity on this portion of the NEC as 
compared to the No Action Alternative, and therefore service changes 
are not an anticipated consequence of the Proposed Action. FRA and NJ 
TRANSIT will evaluate direct, indirect and cumulative changes to the 
human and natural environment resulting from the alternatives, 
including analyses of the following resource areas:
     Transportation;
     Social and economic conditions;
     Property acquisition;
     Parks and recreational resources;
     Visual and aesthetic resources;
     Historic and archaeological resources;
     Air quality;
     Greenhouse gas emissions and resilience;
     Noise and vibration;
     Ecology (including wetlands, water and sediment quality, 
floodplains, and biological resources);
     Threatened and endangered species;
     Contaminated materials; and
     Environmental justice.
A Section 4(f) evaluation will also be included in the Draft EIS.

Scoping, Public Involvement, and Agency Coordination

    This NOI initiates the scoping process under NEPA, which helps 
guide the development of the Draft EIS. FRA and NJ TRANSIT invite all 
interested individuals, organizations, and federal, state, and local 
agencies to comment on the scope of the EIS. Comments are encouraged on 
the Proposed Action's purpose and need; the alternatives to consider in 
the EIS; the analyses to include in the EIS and the study area and 
methodologies to be used; the approach for public and agency 
involvement; and any particular concerns about the anticipated impacts 
of the Proposed Action.
    Public agencies with jurisdiction are requested to advise FRA of 
the applicable permit and environmental review requirements of each 
agency, and the scope and content of the environmental information 
germane to the agency's statutory responsibilities in connection with 
the Proposed Action. Public agencies are requested to advise FRA if 
they anticipate taking a major action in connection with the Proposed 
Action and if they wish to cooperate in the preparation of the EIS 
under 40 CFR 1501.16.
    FRA will coordinate with participating agencies during development 
of the Draft EIS under 23 U.S.C. 139. FRA will also coordinate with 
federally recognized tribes and Consulting Parties established under 
Section 106 of the NHPA.
    The lead agencies will invite all Federal and non-Federal agencies 
and Native American tribes that may have an interest in the Proposed 
Action to become participating agencies for the EIS. If an agency or 
tribe is not invited and would like to participate, please contact FRA 
at the contact information listed above. The lead agencies will develop 
a Coordination Plan summarizing how they will engage the public, 
agencies, and tribes in the process. The Coordination Plan will be 
posted to the Project Web site (www.hudsontunnelproject.com) and to 
FRA's Web site (www.fra.dot.gov/Page/P0214). NJ TRANSIT will lead the 
outreach activities during the public scoping process, beginning with 
the scoping meeting and comment period identified under DATES above. 
Public meetings, open houses and other public involvement initiatives, 
including newsletters and outreach, will be held and used throughout 
the course of this study. Public outreach activities will be announced 
on the Project Web site (www.hudsontunnelproject.com) and through 
mailings, public notices, advertisements and press releases.


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    Issued in Washington, DC, on April 27, 2016.
Amitabha Bose,
Chief Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2016-10277 Filed 4-28-16; 11:15 am]
 BILLING CODE 4910-06-P