The Gateway Development Corporation project moved forward Saturday with the construction of a 200-foot utility monopole that will carry power lines supplying power to all Northeast Corridor trains to and from New York.

Construction of the pole is a part of the early construction work on the Portal North Bridge project of the Gateway Program.

Gateway is responsible for planning the estimated $20 billion infrastructure project. The project will feature a new tunnel to be the first built under the Hudson River in more than 80 years, and the first new rail tunnel since the completion of the existing tubes in 1910 by the Pennsylvania Railroad.

The existing tunnels suffered extreme water damage from Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

Gateway backers contend the project needs to be done to support the economy and eliminate a single point of failure on the nation’s busiest stretch of railways, causing delays that ripple throughout the rail system from Washington, D.C., to Boston.

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