Amtrak, which is pressing to build a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River between New York City and New Jersey, on Friday named a freight rail veteran as its next chief executive.

The national passenger railroad said that Charles W. Moorman, the former chairman of the freight rail operator Norfolk Southern, would succeed Joseph Boardman next month. Mr. Boardman, who has led Amtrak since late 2008, is retiring.

Mr. Moorman, who is 64 and known as Wick, arrives at a critical time for Amtrak, which has said that its existing century-old tunnel under the Hudson was severely damaged by Hurricane Sandy four years ago. Officials with the railroad have said that the two tubes in the old tunnel will eventually need to be shut down, one at a time, so that repairs can be made. Without the additional tunnel, which would also have two tubes, the repair process would reduce train capacity across the Hudson by 75 percent.

Making steady progress toward obtaining the billions of dollars needed for the new tunnels is expected to be one of the goals the Amtrak board will set for Mr. Moorman. The tunnels are part of a larger infrastructure project known as the Gateway program that Amtrak has said could cost nearly $24 billion.