Kearny, N.J.

Portal North Bridge Capacity Enhancement

Client: NJ TRANSIT
Our Role: Project Management, Operational Simulation Analyses, Quality Control, Geotechnical, Bridges, Rail Systems, Trackwork Design, Signals, Traction Power

100+ year-old Portal Bridge over the Hackensack River in northern New Jersey

A longtime source of delay on the Northeast Corridor, the aging Portal swing bridge over the Hackensack River is being replaced as part of the Portal Bridge Capacity Enhancement program. The effort rebuilds 2.5 miles of the Amtrak Northeast Corridor between Newark, New Jersey, and New York City, where Amtrak and NJ TRANSIT commuter trains share one of the busiest rail corridors in the country. The corridor carries 472 trains per day through the environmentally sensitive Hackensack Meadowlands.

In 2026, NJ TRANSIT and Amtrak achieved a major milestone by cutting over the first track to the new Portal North Bridge and beginning revenue service. Work continues toward full buildout and long-term reliability gains.

GFT leads the Portal Partners Tri-Venture team of 27 subconsultants supporting planning, design, and construction support across this critical section of the Northeast Corridor. Our scope includes project management, scheduling, rail operational simulation analysis, quality control, geotechnical design, trackwork, retaining walls, rail signaling, and traction power.

During construction, GFT serves as the engineer of record, reviewing submittals, responding to requests for information (RFIs), addressing nonconformance reports (NCRs), and supporting change order and estimate reviews in coordination with Amtrak review teams and the construction manager.

The project involves many organizations and multiple document control systems, requiring disciplined coordination and frequent communication to keep teams aligned with current information. Construction proceeds within a Superfund-contaminated site, which drives additional environmental and worker protection measures and close coordination with NJ TRANSIT environmental staff and remediation teams. Active rail operations also constrain outage availability and force account support, reinforcing the need for early and ongoing engagement from railroad operations teams and daily coordination forums.

Key Features

Accelerated environmental impact statement effort with coordination among multiple stakeholders, including work tied to land acquisition, wetlands, contaminated sites, and landfills.
Preliminary engineering to expand a two-track corridor to five tracks and elevate the alignment to support replacement of the swing bridge with fixed river crossings.
Design of 29 bridges with 124 spans, plus associated civil, track, signal, catenary, and traction power substation work.
Two three-span, network-tied arch river bridges providing 50 feet of clearance over the Hackensack River.
“Duckunder” structure enabling westbound NJ TRANSIT trains leaving New York to pass under the Amtrak Northeast Corridor.
Five new interlockings with staging designs, plus modifications to seven control centers for signal and traction power control.
Rail network operations simulation modeling using rail traffic controller (RTC), including modeling of all 15 platform tracks at Penn Station New York for multi-day and multi-week scenarios and delay statistics across train types.

Outcomes

Advanced a Gateway Program priority by shifting service off an aging movable bridge and onto a new fixed-span structure.
Delivered staged corridor and interlocking designs that support continuous operations during construction.
Improved delivery confidence through simulation-backed staging and coordinated control system updates across multiple operating stakeholders.
Supported long-term corridor capacity and flexibility, including train sorting between Penn Station New York and planned future Hudson River tunnel connections.