Everyone has heard tales about the daunting, ingenious construction of projects such as the Brooklyn Bridge and Panama Canal, but few people are aware of the engineering wonder of the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad “tubes” that lie beneath our feet in Hoboken.
One of the great engineering accomplishments of the day, the construction of the sub-aqueous tunnels that PATH (Port Authority Trans Hudson) commuters pass through today was filled with perils and innovations that changed the lives of residents on both sides of the Hudson River.
According to information supplied by Terry Kennedy, a local historian and expert on the tubes, on Nov. 17, 1874, several years before construction began on the Brooklyn Bridge, workers – often referred to as “sandhogs” – began building a tunnel underneath the Hudson River. With $10 million in financing and a freshly issued patent in hand, railroading tycoon and former Army Colonel DeWitt Clinton Haskin began digging a circular hole at the foot of 15th Street in Jersey City.
But the task of building a train tunnel 60 to 90 feet below the surface of the water with little more than shovels and handheld picks was time-consuming and tremendously dangerous. Workers entered the tunnel from a caisson, an inverted box, through an air lock. They waited for the atmosphere to be artificially pressurized, then opened the tunnel door for digging.
Construction did not always run smoothly. On July 21, 1880, a blowout claimed 20 men’s lives, 18 from Jersey City and two from Hoboken. During the blowout, sandhog Peter Woodland sacrificed his own life to close the air lock, saving the lives of dozens.
In addition to the danger to workers, there were many setbacks, both physical and financial. The task was so arduous and expensive that it took more than 30 years to complete.
Opened in 1908
Finally, on Feb. 25, 1908, Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Company’s first tube service ran through the uptown pair of tunnels between Hoboken and 19th Street in Manhattan. The New York and New Jersey governors attended the opening, along with thousands of well-dressed onlookers. It was one of Hoboken’s biggest celebrations. The cost for a token on the first train was 6 cents.
According to Kennedy, the ridership on the tubes reached an annual high of 113 million the same year that the Holland Tunnel was completed. But that event signaled the beginning of a several-year decline of the tubes.
The popularity of automobiles caused ridership to quickly decline, and in 1958 only 26 million people were using the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Company’s trains. This drop-off caused the company to declare bankruptcy, and the tubes were sold the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in 1962. This led to the creation of the Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corporation (PATH).
The Port Authority modernized the system and added a fleet of cars. The renovations were so successful that the Erie Lackawanna Railroad stopped running ferry boats out of Hoboken, making the PATH the main link for Jersey passengers going to Manhattan.