PLANS FOR HIGH-SPEED RAIL IN THEIR SECOND DECADE

Mike McCagg

ccSCOOP News

03-14-10 - 10:00 p.m. - The state will seek federal funding to make high-speed rail service between Albany and New York City a reality.

While $151 million in federal stimulus funding was awarded earlier this year to increase rail speed between Albany and Niagara Falls, a much-ballyhooed effort to create high-speed rail from New York City to Albany was left at the station. Though the majority of funding sought to make the repairs between New York City and Albany was denied this year, Jen Post, a spokesperson for the New York State Department of Transportation, said the state will once again seek funding for the high-speed rail project. “There were some track improvements we applied for but were not funded in this round of ARRA grants that we will be seeking funding for again in the next round of ARRA funding,” she said.

The improvements between Albany and New York City that were funded include at-grade crossing changes at a variety of locations. In addition, a rock slope stabilization project near the George Washington Bridge was recently completed, which, Post said, should alleviate some wait times currently experienced by commuters heading into New York City.

“That should help the trains go in and out of Penn Station more quickly,” she said.

Of course, none of that addresses the long-sought desire to bring high-speed rail to the state.

Currently, trains can reach speeds of 110 mph between Stuyvesant and Schenectady but must slow to much lower speeds elsewhere because of track conditions. The $151 million in federal stimulus funds awarded this year will boost speeds between Albany and Niagara Falls through the addition of a rail line in the Schenectady area. That was part of a $10.8 billion rail plan detailed by Governor David Paterson last year, which was designed to improve service from New York City to Niagara Falls by decreasing commute times.

Since the mid-1990s, high-speed rail has been a rallying cry of elected officials. In 1995 or 1996, this writer took a test trip on a train that exceeded the 110 mph speed between Albany and Stuyvesant as part of a press demonstration.

A feasibility study in the late 1990s projected that building a high-speed rail system in New York would cost about $12 billion in today’s money, but that the system couldn’t be operation until 2025. The state is currently grappling with a $14 billion deficit and does not have money for the project.

In 1999, this writer reported for another Hudson Valley publication that railway commuters in the state were on the fast track to high-speed rail service, and improvements that would allow trains to travel between Albany and New York City at 125 mph were imminent. Trains and track conditions at present allow only a maximum speed of 110 mph. The improvements would have meant a 10 percent reduction in travel time.

Track work to straighten severe curves in Columbia and Dutchess counties were apparently never completed, and the “Turboliners,” which were to have made high speed a reality, were never built. In fact, the facility in the Albany area that was to build them is now shuttered.

When asked by ccSCOOP to explain the start-and-stop efforts of the high-speed rail project, state official had no answer.