Polly Desjarlais; Jill Jonnes; Andy Sparberg
Three featured guests providing expert commentary: a transit museum content and research manager, a historian and author on Penn Station construction, and a transit historian/former LIRR manager who together offer research, historical narrative, and operational context on the Hudson River tunnels.
Best podcasts with Polly Desjarlais; Jill Jonnes; Andy Sparberg
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Feb 16, 2026 • 36min
How To Dig a Train Tunnel Under the Hudson River
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.
