New York City-Secaucus Junction Transit?

It’s intriguing:

Ever since Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey killed an expensive plan for a new commuter rail tunnel to Manhattan, the Bloomberg administration has been working on an alternative: run the No. 7 subway train under the Hudson River.

The plan envisions the No. 7 stretching from 34th Street on the Far West Side of Manhattan to Secaucus, N.J., where there is a connection to New Jersey Transit trains. It would extend the New York City subway outside the city for the first time, giving New Jersey commuters direct access to Times Square, Grand Central Terminal and Queens, and to almost every line in the system.

Like the project scuttled by Mr. Christie, this proposed tunnel would expand a regional transportation system already operating at capacity and would double the number of trains traveling between the two states during peak hours. But it would do so at about half the cost, an estimated $5.3 billion, according to a closely guarded, four-page memorandum circulated by the city’s Hudson Yards Development Corporation.

I’m not sure I totally understand the Bloomberg administration’s preoccupation with federal money — it reminds me of children bobbing for apples and seems beneath the studiously aloof mayor (it’s also what Robert Moses was pilloried for when “he built” all those Title I projects in the 1950s and 60s).

Which is to say, while this seems like an interesting project, would it be something the City would prioritize had it not been for all that federal money? Which is also to say, why is New York City subsidizing New Jersey commuters? Are there really that many Bruce Springsteen concerts at the Meadowlands? If not, can we also get a cheap New Jersey Transit bus to Newark Liberty from Secaucus Junction when this is completed?