New Jersey officials have been planning the next train tunnel under the Hudson River for so long that it is already on its third name. This month, work is scheduled to begin on the Mass Transit Tunnel  formerly known as the Trans-Hudson Express and, before that, Access to the Region’s Core  more than 15 years after it was conceived.

A ceremonial groundbreaking was set for Monday alongside a highway in North Bergen, N.J., the site of the first small piece of what could be the biggest transit project in the country. The tunnel, which is expected to take eight years to complete, bears a current price tag of $8.7 billion. That is about $6 billion less than the so-called Big Dig highway tunnel in Boston cost but about $6 billion more than the project’s original price.

By getting started this month, the tunnel project will qualify for $130 million in federal money from the economic stimulus package President Obama signed in mid-February. The project’s planners, who estimate that it will create more than 5,600 construction jobs, are hoping to receive an additional $3 billion in federal money.

“In addition to creating thousands of jobs and promoting mobility and regional competitiveness in the global economy for decades to come, the Mass Transit Tunnel will provide enormous environmental benefits by taking thousands of cars off the road,” said New Jersey’s governor, Jon S. Corzine, who has been one of the project’s most ardent champions.