(The following editorial appeared on the Buffalo News website on February 28.)
BUFFALO, N.Y. — New York State should act now to revive rail traffic as a step toward fast-tracking the future state economy. Today’s economy and pressing public needs won’t allow the major investment to transform the state’s aging railroad infrastructure immediately, but incremental steps can be taken and planning should start.
Some investments already are being made, both in the safety of existing lines and in preparations for future highspeed rail traffic that could link easily to high-speed rail now in use on the East Coast and planned for the Quebec-Windsor corridor in Canada. Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer should consolidate those efforts in a broad-based high-speed rail task force, and Buffalo and other communities along the likely highspeed corridors should prioritize land-use and intermodal transportation center planning now.
Buffalo once was the third-largest rail hub in the nation, and New York was a center of railroad-driven economic activity. In past glory, there can be future hope.
The high-speed rail concept is gaining steam throughout the world. Eighteen countries now have high-speed rail lines, ranging from conventional high-speed routes — current proposals call for ramping up cross-state service in New York to 70 to 80 mph now, and eventually to 120 to 150 mph — to “bullet trains” that can top 200 mph and “mag lev” trains that float magnetically over track beds to reach higher friction-free speeds.
Currently, cross-state train travel is crippled by Amtrak’s financial condition and by the national rail line’s need to use tracks owned by freight railroads — a condition that causes long delays as passenger trains wait for freights to pass.
High-speed trains can trim cross-state travel time significantly, knit the state’s economy more closely together and boost even casual tourism, such as quick trips from midstate to Bills and Sabres games. But the current worldwide surge stems from even more pressing needs — gasoline prices, oil dependency, airline delays, congested highways and, not insignificantly, a desire for fuel-efficient “green” travel. Euro-star high-speed rail system Chief Executive Richard Brown noted recently in Brussels that concerns about airline and auto pollution have changed both personal and business travel decisions enough to boost his line’s passenger traffic by 30 percent over the past two years.
The call for high-speed rail here is not new. A commission some years ago studied the feasibility of using the Thruway corridor (curves were deemed too sharp for really highspeed rail, every overpass would need redesign and there were concerns about the effect on motorists suddenly being passed). And although President Bush’s budget proposal includes a deep cut in Amtrak subsidies, there are rail-boosting efforts still under way:
• A State Senate High-Speed Rail Task Force, championed by Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, will oversee a $10 million investment in the Albany-New York City corridor that stems from settlement of a legal dispute between Amtrak and the state Department of Transportation.
• The Senate has committed $27 million to high-speed rail, and Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo, is drafting an Assembly bill that calls for at least $50 million to be spent annually on intercity rail passenger service.
• Sen. Charles E. Schumer, in a recent meeting with freight railroad executives, won CSX agreement to spend nearly $46 million on upgrades and safety improvements in New York — including a commitment to high-speed rail testing.
• The Empire Corridor Rail Task Force and Empire State Passengers Association are pushing for restoration of budget- trimmed Buffalo-Albany Amtrak routes and for double tracks near Schenectady to end the worst bottleneck.
• A recent National Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission report called for expanded capital investments in passenger rail service through 2050, and for the development of federally designated high-speed rail corridors.
Buffalo is a logical stop on such a corridor, which would have limited high-speed stations — New York, Albany, Syracuse, Rochester and here — with bus and short-line train links feeding into it.
That’s the future, but decisions on land and the multimodal stations New York’s cities would need to create a seamless and mutually enhancing transportation system — instead of one that simply pits transportation modes against each other for market share — must be made now. Boost the incremental investments, and the planning.