How To Dig a Train Tunnel Under the Hudson River
HISTORY This Week
The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios
4.5 • 4.2K Ratings
🗓️ 16 February 2026
⏱️ 35 minutes
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Summary
February 14, 1905. A stick of dynamite detonates under the Hudson River — and the ground above swallows a locomotive whole. It's the latest setback in an audacious plan to tunnel beneath the river and bring trains into Manhattan. The Pennsylvania Railroad is the largest corporation in the world, but the goopy riverbed keeps fighting back. How did they finally make it across? And why are these 115-year-old tunnels still the most critical infrastructure in America today?
Special thanks to our guests: Polly Desjarlais, content and research manager at the New York Transit Museum; Jill Jonnes, author of Conquering Gotham: A Gilded Age Epic: The Construction of Penn Station and Its Tunnels; and Andy Sparberg, former LIRR manager, transit historian, and author of From a Nickel to a Token: The Journey from Board of Transportation to MTA.
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Transcript
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| 0:23.2 | Hey, History This Week, listeners. We have something very exciting to share. This podcast has been going since 2020. But for the first time ever, we are taking it live. If you are in the New York City area, please join us for a live episode at the Tenement Museum in downtown Manhattan on Wednesday, March 4th at 6.30 p.m. I will be in conversation with historian Tyler Anbinder exploring the history of Irish immigration to the United States, |
| 0:29.3 | cutting through some of the most common myths, and looking closely at how Irish immigrants actually |
| 0:34.3 | navigated life, work, and assimilation in America. This is history where it |
| 0:40.0 | happened in one of the most meaningful spaces in the city, and we would love to see you there. |
| 0:45.1 | We will drop a link with all the details in the episode description, and you can also find the |
| 0:49.0 | event at history this week podcast.com. Hope to see you there. |
| 0:56.7 | The History Channel, original podcast. |
| 1:01.5 | History This Week, February 14th, 1905. |
| 1:08.0 | I'm Sally Helm. |
| 1:12.7 | There is one thing standing between Alexander Cassatt and greatness. |
| 1:22.3 | Cassat is the president of the Pennsylvania Railroad. |
| 1:26.0 | As of 1900, it is the largest corporation in the world. |
| 1:30.6 | But his trains can't get into one of the largest cities in the world. |
| 1:36.3 | New York. |
| 1:39.1 | They get to New Jersey and can't go any further. |
| 1:43.0 | Passengers have to get off and catch a ferry to get into Manhattan. |
| 1:47.6 | And for Alexander Cassatt, this is galling, undignified. It's not the fitting of the Great Pennsylvania |
| 1:54.5 | Railroad. He wants to be able to bring his trains into New York. This will allow him to transport commuters, sure, |
| 2:02.4 | but also to ultimately connect |
| 2:04.2 | all of what is today called the |
| 2:06.3 | Northeast Corridor. |
| 2:08.1 | It'll become a vital link in a continuous |
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