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U.S Senator Cory Booker (left) and Charles Schumer (right) listen to Amtrak CEO Tony Coscia talk about the Gateway Tunnel project at a press conference near the Hudson yards development, which the proposed tunnel would run underneath. (Larry Higgs | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

With a five-year transportation bill that includes three possible funding sources to build the $20 billion Gateway Tunnel under the Hudson River, federal lawmakers said the legislation puts the region closer to getting the cash to pay it.



U.S. Senators Cory Booker, D-NJ and Charles Schumer, D-NY, took a form of victory lap Monday morning at the site of the proposed tunnel route for their legislation to set up ways to finance the tunnel, estimated to cost $20 billion.



"Now New Jersey and New York has the best possible environment to fund Gateway," Booker said. "It shows our funding picture is very strong."



While the need for Gateway, which includes two new tunnels under the Hudson River and track improvements in New Jersey and expansion of Penn Station in New York, hasn't been challenged, how to pay for it has remained the biggest hurdle for officials.



While a piece of the puzzle was solved in September, when federal transportation officials agreed to fund half of Gateway with New Jersey and New York's governors agreeing to finance the remaining 50 percent, exactly where the money was coming from remained a question.



Some money was locked down in bills sponsored by Booker and Schumer which allows Amtrak or the states to apply for Federal Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing loans for Gateway and permits Amtrak to keep profits from it's lucrative Northeast Corridor line for Gateway.



Allowing Amtrak to retain that money to invest in the corridor could provide $300 million annually to pay off bonds for Gateway, Booker said.



"Our bill made sure we could reinvest Amtrak profits in the Northeast Corridor," Booker said.



Gateway is also now eligible for the same federal pot of grant money that pumped $3 billion in to the cancelled ARC tunnel project.



U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, D-NJ, ranking Democrat on the senate mass transit subcommittee, said he designed legislation to make sure grants, known as New Starts money, could be used for Gateway. A transit agency would have to apply for those funds, he said.

Booker said the complaints of commuters, which rose to a crescendo after four days of delays in July due to failing Amtrak infrastructure, added to the urgency to move to get the tunnel funded.



"New Jersey commuters are facing hell, real hell," he said. "Our office was besieged by commuters. It was their voice and frustration that has created tremendous urgency (for Gateway)."



The need to build the Gateway tunnel also took on greater urgency a year ago when Amtrak officials announced the existing 105-year-old tunnels were damaged by corrosive flood waters driven by Hurricane Sandy.

Those tunnels have to be shut down for one year each to be gutted and Amtrak officials are racing the clock to get new tunnels built before that happens. Gateway has a tentative 2030 completion date.

Booker and Schumer said that the funding mechanisms in the recently-passed transportation bill will be in place for Gateway, regardless of what administration is in the White House.



"Two of these things will transcend any administration," Schumer said. "New Starts (grants) have to be allocated every year."

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Loan and grant applications will be made by the Gateway Development Corporation. A proposal may be before to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's board as early as Thursday to create the corporation in conjunction with Amtrak, the lawmakers said.



NJ Transit and possibly a New York-based transit agency may have to be added to that corporation to insure that it qualifies to apply for all categories of federal grants and low-interest loan programs, Menendez said.



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



