Lawsuit by fired head of NJ Transit's Portal Bridge project warns about key design flaws

Colleen Wilson, NorthJersey.com
Updated ·4 min read
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The engineer who oversaw NJ Transit’s Portal North Bridge project accused the agency of ignoring his whistleblower concerns about the new bridge’s design, which he alleges led to retaliation and discrimination, says a recently filed lawsuit.

Within months of his hiring at NJ Transit in 2021, Mohammed Nasim — the agency's former chief of construction management — began reporting “design defects including the dangers of track settlement and issues with construction work being built too close to the existing corridor, and the navigation issues in the river,” says the lawsuit, filed in the Superior Court of New Jersey in Essex County last month.

These issues, the suit says, “jeopardized the safety of the traveling public, posed potential dangers to rail passenger trains, disruption of service and delays to the project,” including the potential to derail passenger trains.

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Nasim is an engineer with 34 years of experience, including at Amtrak, where he worked on Portal Bridge and other Gateway projects.

Nasim alleges in the lawsuit that he raised these issues a number of times publicly in meetings during his employment at NJ Transit, as well as in emails and privately to his boss, Richard Schaefer, who became senior vice president of capital programs.

But his warnings were ignored, he says. In some cases, Nasim alleges, he was told by Schaefer to “shut up” or that he didn’t know what he was talking about, the lawsuit says.

Nasim was fired in October 2023, and he told NorthJersey.com at the time that it was a “very unfair decision.”

Nasim names NJ Transit and Schaefer as defendants in the lawsuit. Jim Smith, a spokesman for NJ Transit, said the agency declined to comment on pending litigation.

More: NJ Transit fires manager of new Portal Bridge construction, part of Gateway program

More: For some at groundbreaking of Gateway rail tunnel, there was a feeling of déjà vu

The project Nasim was overseeing is the $2.3 billion Portal North Bridge, a replacement for the Portal Bridge, a 113-year-old swing span that is a frequent cause of delays on the Northeast Corridor. The bridge crosses the Hackensack River between Kearny and Secaucus.

This is the single largest project NJ Transit has overseen. It is part of the first phase of the Gateway program, a collection of high-profile projects that include building a new two-track rail tunnel under the Hudson River and rehabilitating the old two-track tunnel, which sustained serious damage from Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

Potential for tracks to settle and derailments

Nasim alleges the design of the new bridge was “deficient,” and he feared that the “existing soil underneath the area where the Portal Bridge was to be built was weak … the excavation of earth and construction work near the existing corridor would cause track settlements and … that the tracks would become uneven.”

The bridge’s design was completed by Gannett Fleming, HNTB Corp. and Jacobs Engineering, known as Portal Partners.

The Portal Bridge’s aging components sometimes malfunction while opening and closing, causing a cascade of delays for NJ Transit.
The Portal Bridge’s aging components sometimes malfunction while opening and closing, causing a cascade of delays for NJ Transit.

None of the three firms responded to a request for comment.

Construction on the bridge formally kicked off in August 2022. Some 450 Amtrak and NJ Transit trains run daily over the old bridge while construction continues on the adjacent replacement bridge.

“When construction started … there were excessive track settlements near the corridor which caused Amtrak to stop work on multiple occasions for an extended period of time, resulting in potential safety issues due to uneven track, waste of time and taxpayer money,” the lawsuit says, noting one time when a foundation allegedly settled by about 18 inches under the weight of wet concrete.

After Nasim raised these red flags, he alleges, Schaefer began assigning project work to other NJ Transit employees, dismissing Nasim’s mitigation ideas and at one point directing a search of Nasim’s office and seizing his work documents, the lawsuit says.

A rendering of the new Portal Bridge across the Hackensack River, part of the larger gateway rail tunnel project. The new bridge will be a fixed span and much higher, allowing boats to pass beneath without the need to open and close.
A rendering of the new Portal Bridge across the Hackensack River, part of the larger gateway rail tunnel project. The new bridge will be a fixed span and much higher, allowing boats to pass beneath without the need to open and close.

By August of 2023, Nasim alleges, his concerns had reached Amtrak, which owns and operates the current Portal Bridge, and an Amtrak employee sent him a letter that allegedly said, “'The magnitude of movement and the neglect to address this issue is alarming’ and that continuing with the original Portal Partners’ design ‘poses a significant risk to the safety of passenger trains.’”

Nasim was fired a month later, and he alleges Schaefer advised top engineering firms not to hire him.

Spokesmen for Amtrak and the Federal Transit Administration declined to comment for this story.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ Transit Portal Bridge project has design flaws, lawsuit says