HISTORY This Week How To Dig a Train Tunnel Under the Hudson River
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Feb 16, 2026 Polly Desjarlais, transit museum content and research manager; Jill Jonnes, historian and author on Penn Station’s construction; and Andy Sparberg, transit historian and former LIRR manager, trace the daring struggle to bore under the Hudson. They describe muddy riverbeds, compressed-air tunneling and sandhog life. The tale covers secret politics, the 1905 Weehawken sinkhole, the inch-by-inch breakthrough, and why those 115-year-old tunnels still matter.
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Hudson Was The Last Link In A National Rail Vision
- Alexander Cassatt wanted direct rail access into Manhattan to connect a continuous Northeast Corridor from Florida to Quebec.
- The Hudson River stood as the single major obstacle to that national rail vision.
Weehawken Sinkhole Swallows A Locomotive
- A dynamite blast underground caused mud and water to pour into a tunnel under the Hudson River.
- On the surface a locomotive disappeared into a 50-foot sinkhole but miraculously no one was killed.
Paris Visit Sparked The Electric Tunnel Idea
- In Paris Cassatt saw electrified trains arriving in the Gare d'Orsay without smoke.
- That visit convinced him electric locomotives in underwater tunnels were the solution for Manhattan.
