Site visit of the Portal North Bridge cutover on Saturday, February 21, 2026
Amtrak released pictures this week of the work being done on the Portal Bridge.
The ongoing work on the bridge has resulted in Midtown Direct customers being diverted to Hoboken where they can take the PATH, midtown ferry service and NJ Transit buses to get into Manhattan. The disruption is expected to last a total of four weeks, ending in March.
NJ Transit and Amtrak are replacing the 116-year-old Portal Bridge over the Hackensack River in New Jersey with a higher bridge, called Portal North Bridge, that will not have to open and close for river traffic.
Beginning in February, Amtrak began to “cutover” or transfer one track of rail service from the existing bridge to the new bridge, which will advance long-term reliability and capacity improvements on the Northeast Corridor (NEC) for an improved travel experience, according to a press release from Amtrak.
This is the first major bridge cutover project ever on the Northeast Corridor. Between installing new track, finalizing the new catenary, and testing the signal system, crews are working around the clock since there is so much that is necessary to connect the new bridge to the existing railroad, the release said.
The Portal North Bridge project is one of several major infrastructure projects currently ongoing throughout the NEC, thanks to generational investments from state and federal partners, the release said.
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