The best feature of Amtrak's proposed Gateway Project for commuters from Bergen and Passaic counties may be a new track that gives them a one-seat ride to and from Manhattan.

That feature is the Secaucus Loop, which often gets overlooked in the larger Gateway Project to build two new Hudson River Tunnels, a Penn Station New York annex and additional tracks in New Jersey.

The loop would be built in the vicinity of the Secaucus Junction train station, where commuters using the four Bergen, Rockland and Orange County rail lines now have to change trains from the station's lower level.

The loop would eliminate that transfer, said Orrin Getz, Rockland coordinator for the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers.

Federal officials said Friday that financing could be in place in two years to build the Secaucus Loop, and construction could start shortly after.

The cost of the total Gateway Project is estimated at $23 billion.

"It would be a big help particularly in evening," Getz said. "(Now) there is a chance that you could miss a connection at Secaucus and instead of winding up on express train, you'd miss it and wind-up on a local."



Also known as the Bergen Loop, it originally part of the canceled Access to the Regions Core project, which was scuttled in October 2010 by Gov. Chris Christie over concerns about cost overruns.



NJ Transit operates Metro-North's west of the Hudson trains under contract on the Pascack Valley and Port Jervis lines. Getz said that Rockland and Orange County officials support the loop so their residents can get the same one-seat ride that other Metro-North passengers have.

Why isn't there a loop now? The current Northeast Corridor Line between Secaucus and New York is only two tracks and Penn Station New York doesn't have enough tracks and platforms to accommodate additional trains, Getz said.



"The biggest restriction right now is the tunnels themselves, they're running 450 trains a day through them, "Getz said.

Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @commutinglarry. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

