Gateway Development Commission has shortlisted three teams to build the center portion of its $16-billion Hudson Tunnel Project adding a new passenger rail link between northern New Jersey and New York City.

The scope of the contract package covers boring a pair of 7,250-ft-long tunnels from a construction shaft in Hoboken, N.J., to one in Manhattan using tunnel boring machines. The selected contractor would also be responsible for lining tunnels with precast concrete segments to have a 25-ft, 2-in. interior diameter, constructing nine cross passages and other related work. The tunnel’s crown is planned to be mostly 25 to 50 ft below the river bottom. 

The shortlisted teams include Gateway Tunnel Contractors, a joint venture of Halmar International LLC and FCC Construction Inc.; Hudson Tunnel Constructors, a partnership of Dragados USA Inc., Schiavone Construction Co. LLC and The Lane Construction Corp.; and Traylor/Walsh/Skanska JV, a team of Traylor Bros. Inc., Walsh Construction Co. II LLC and Skanska USA Civil Northeast Inc., according to a notice from the commission. 

Officials plan to issue a request for proposals for a design-bid-build contractor to the three shortlisted teams. Gateway leaders have said they aim to have the contractor selected next year. 

The commission, which was jointly created by New York and New Jersey to manage passenger rail projects along a section of the Northeast Corridor rail line, plans to build the tunnel via several contract packages. Last year it selected a team of Schiavone, Dragados and Lane for a $465.6-million contract for the New Jersey end of the tunnel, and on Feb. 3 it selected Frontier-Kemper-Tutor Perini JV for a $1.2-billion contract to build the New York side. 

Work is already underway on other contracts covering related infrastructure on both sides of the river, as well as stabilization of a section of the riverbed needed before tunneling there. 

Future contract packages still to be awarded include tunnel fit-out and rehabilitation of the existing North River Tunnel, which officials say is overdue because of its more than century long existance and flood damage from Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The Northeast Corridor serves Amtrak trains between Boston and Washington, D.C., and this section also serves NJ Transit system commuter trains. Gateway leaders say the new tunnel is needed to ensure service reliability.

The new tunnel is scheduled to enter service in 2035, and the full project including the North River Tunnel rehab is scheduled for completion in 2038.