New Era of Rail: Portal North Bridge Project Update

The Portal North Bridge, a key Phase I project in the Gateway Program, will create a modern, high-level, fixed-span structure to replace the century-old Portal Bridge – a moveable swing-span that creates a major bottleneck along the NEC. The completed Portal North Bridge will remove conflicts with maritime traffic, improve reliability for Amtrak and NJ TRANSIT passengers, allow for increased train speeds and provide for expanded capacity along the NEC.

In partnership with NJ TRANSIT, Amtrak continues to advance project construction and achieved 25% completion this summer. The project remains on schedule and on budget with a target completion date expected in late 2027.

With continued field work and the rising of the superstructure, the project is easily viewed from a train window during trips up and down the NEC. By unlocking new capacity on this critical stretch of the NEC through the Gateway Program, Amtrak will be able to deliver more trains to more people in more places – all in the near future.