The Port Authority plans to invest $430 million over two years to rehabilitate the PATH train between New York and New Jersey, the agency announced last week.
Under its PATH Forward program, the bi-state agency says it will invest in rebuilding and rehabilitating its bridges, tracks, switches, and stations over the next two years. At 116 years of age, the PATH — which runs under the Hudson River between Manhattan and New Jersey’s Hudson and Essex counties — is nearly as old as New York’s subway, and alone is the fifth busiest rapid transit system in the country.
“Some portions of the 116-year-old PATH system are showing their age,” said Rick Cotton, the Port Authority’s executive director. “With PATH Forward, we’re fast-tracking our efforts to modernize the system and make sure riders have a smooth trip as we renew our infrastructure, refurbish our trains, and refresh our stations.”
Work has already started on rehabilitating the 114-year-old Grove Street stop in Jersey City. The Port Authority in March completed rehabilitation work on the Newark and Journal Square-bound platform that forced their closure on weekends. Now, on weekends through June 30, the Manhattan and Hoboken-bound tracks will be shuttered for similar work.
Similar closures will also eventually take place at Hoboken, Exchange Place, and Newport stations to address lingering damage from Superstorm Sandy. Rehab work is expected to only take place on weekends in 2024, though some weekday work could take place in 2025.
Railroad switches will be entirely rebuilt on the PATH lift bridge over the Hackensack River, while the lift control system will be rehabilitated, the Port Authority says. The agency also plans to replace deteriorated sections of track.
The move comes as across the Hudson River, the MTA invests in upkeep on its own subway stations through the Re-NEW-Vation program, which has agency workers spruce up deteriorating stations in a 55-hour weekend window.
The agency has Re-NEW-vated 70 stations since launching the program in late 2022, most recently the Jamaica-Van Wyck and Sutphin-Archer stations in southeast Queens.
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