With a heavy metallic clank and a sigh of compressed air, follow the track into a tunnel outside the Hoboken Terminal switches to allow a PATH train to arrive from New York on track two in Hoboken.

The clanking of steel wheels across this intersection of tracks, called interlocking, is a scene repeated hundreds of times a day.

But as PATH officials showed during an exclusive tour Tuesday evening and early Wednesday, the moving lanes and switching devices are decades old and need to be replaced, which will happen within 25 days . Hoboken terminal closure in early 2025 for major rehabilitation and repair work, announced on October 31.

After two trains left the station, a two-man team armed with a giant hammer and wrench meticulously checked the tracks and switching equipment in the interlocking complex for any problems, which, according to officials, is a nightly ritual.

A total of 4,500 linear feet of track will be replaced in the tunnels, including interlockings, in addition to work at the PATH station as part of the repair program which will begin at 11:59 p.m. on January 30, 2025 and is expected to reopen at 5 morning hours on February 25, 2025.

The $31 million Hoboken terminal work is part of the Larger, ongoing $430 million PATH Forward program which was announced and launched in April to address critical and aging infrastructure in the 116-year-old bistate rail system.

A new crossroads for better operation

A centerpiece of the Hoboken project is replacing the interlock, a diamond-shaped crisscross of rails that allows trains to change tracks as they arrive and depart from the Hoboken station. It is located in the tunnel about 30 meters from the station, invisible to passengers.

Nothing enters or leaves the Hoboken terminal without passing through the crisscrossing tracks that make up the interlocking, PATH general manager Clarelle DeGraffe said during the tour.

“There are problems with the lockdown,” she said.

When there are issues with the lockout, it can lead to delays or even suspensions of service. Replacing it will increase reliability and on-time performance.

General plans call for the replacement of the rails, the wooden ties that support the rails and the stone ballast that supports the entire track structure, as well as the installation of a new drainage system to handle the water rising from underground and undermining the track structure, said Thomas Cromwell, PATH’s deputy director of infrastructure. and rolling stock.

Unlike Amtrak and other railroads, PATH’s interlock must be specially manufactured to fit the geometry of the 116-year-old tunnels which have 2 to 3 inches of clearance between trains and walls, Cromwell said.

The PATH lock replacement reflects what Amtrak did it at Penn Station New York in the summer of 2017. This work, during what was dubbed the Summer of Hell, replaced the key track interlocking, which trains used to switch tracks between the Hudson River Tunnels and the station complex.

The logistics of the PATH work will not be easy, all incoming materials and removed debris must be evacuated by rail, he said.

New rails to stay on track

Cromwel highlighted the damage to the rails in the tunnel and on the interlock, including flats that should be rounded, gaps between the joints connecting the rails and wear and tear caused by hundreds of trains each day running on the tracks. Pointing to the water between two wooden sleepers supporting the rails in the tunnel, Cromwell said: “It should be dry.”

Some of the tunnel’s rails are 50 to 60 years old, and the locking systems are 30 years old, he said. Repair crews weld the new metal where they can and grind the old rail back into the correct shape.

“Rail is coming to the end of its life,” Cromwell said.

Perhaps the most surprising part of the project is that it will replace the original third rail, on which trains draw electricity to operate, and which has been in service for 116 years since PATH was built, a- he declared.

The new third rail will be a more efficient composite of aluminum and steel that will conduct electricity better, Cromwell said.

I’m still repairing the damage caused by Sandy

Hoboken Works also continues efforts to rid the station complex of salt water and remaining chemicals washed into it by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, which flooded the underground station and tunnels .

Residual salt and chemicals had a detrimental effect on the tracks, the switching devices that keep the interlock working and the electronic circuits of the tracks, Cromwell said.

The station work includes removing old concrete and installing a new platform surface, DeGraffe said. All stairwells are being rebuilt, but the narrower staircases cannot be widened due to space constraints in the station, she explained. Better LED station lighting will also be installed, she said.

On top of that, some work will accurately restore the station’s historic appearance, DeGraffe said. Riders are seeing some of that work come to fruition now as the support columns are repainted green and white, accentuating the embossed letter H on each.

Why a stop in February?

February was chosen because it is one of the two months when PATH ridership is lowest and the effects would be the least on commuters, she said. The month of August is the second lowest traffic. The alternative would have been at least 28 weekends of service reductions, suspensions and reroutings, she said.

“We want to implement as much as possible before people come back,” DeGraffe said, adding that the plan is to have contractors and PATH staff working simultaneously.

Jtrack, LLC will perform the interlocking work and a portion of the in-station track work. Railworks will carry out the other overall track works and Hall Construction will carry out the station refurbishment.

This work comes as PATH reported an increase in ridership in September.

Move

To help move PATH passengers, the Port Authority and NY Waterway Ferry announced they will provide expanded, multi-honored service, including additional peak service every 10 minutes between Hoboken and Manhattan, a additional bus travel between cities, extended operating hours at Hoboken terminals and an extra weekend. route, while the Hoboken terminal is closed.

An additional weekend ferry route will operate between Hoboken’s two ferry terminals to and from the Midtown/West 39th Street Ferry Terminal. A cross-honor agreement ensures that PATH customers pay the same price to ride the ferry as a PATH fare, officials said.

PATH will also offer shuttle buses to its Newport and Exchange Place stations, additional bus service to enhance NJ Transit’s Route 126 to the Midtown Manhattan Bus Terminal, and light rail service.