(The following story by Steve Orr appeared on the Democrat and Chronicle website on June 14, 2010.)
New York state and the CSX railroad have set aside differences so that planning can go forward for a high-speed rail line across upstate New York. The parties have signed a pair of agreements to facilitate planning for the passenger-train track that New York intends to build.
“Everyone agrees that high-speed rail is very important to New York state. These two agreements give us the way to move forward. We’re very happy about that,” said Deborah Sturm Rausch, a spokeswoman for the state Transportation Department.
State officials have begun a two-year, $4.5 million planning effort that they hope will yield details of the new line, on which Amtrak passenger trains would travel up to 110 mph from Albany to Buffalo. Trains crossing upstate now are limited to 79 mph on tracks they share with CSX freights.
The state also intends to press ahead with the first 11 miles of that proposed high-speed line, to be built on CSX-owned land in Monroe and Genesee counties with $58 million in federal stimulus money. But federal guidelines leave only about 27 months to finish the track and there’s no guarantee yet that trains could go 110 mph on that stretch as state officials have planned.
“It’s a good thing that the parties are talking, but there are still many questions that are left unanswered,” said U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. “Until the process is complete and shovels are in the ground, I will continue to press both sides to work quickly and productively.”
New York for years has hoped to build a high-speed passenger line on the freight railroad’s right-of-way, which now carries two tracks in most places but has room for two more. Using that right-of-way would be far less expensive than acquiring land from private owners.
When the Obama administration made $8 billion in stimulus money available for high-speed passenger rail lines last year, New York state submitted an application for more than half of it, with much of the money to be used for the new third track. But that application was deemed insufficient, and in January New York was awarded only $151 million for seven smaller projects, including the 11-mile high-speed test track.
State officials said they would begin preparing new, more detailed plans for the entire corridor. They have said they would seek federal money to pay for it.
But it came to light last month that state and CSX officials had been at odds over the terms of a previously undisclosed agreement that any new high-speed passenger track had to be at least 30 feet away from CSX’s freight tracks. That undercut the state’s plan to use the CSX right-of-way, as there are numerous places where a 30-foot separation would leave no room for the third track.
Relations between the parties soured when CSX concluded that state officials were ignoring the agreement. That led to meetings last month, arranged by U.S. Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport, that led to signing of the new agreements. CSX spokesman Robert Sullivan said the agreements show the railroad’s willingness to work for better passenger rail lines while maintaining freight service.
In those agreements, the state agreed its rail study would consider various track-location options, including acquiring new land if there isn’t sufficient room in CSX’s right-of-way. The railroad promised to cooperate with the study and said it would consider relaxing the 30-foot separation rule at limited locations.
Track-separation issues will have to be worked out if the state is to build the 11-mile test track.
Sullivan declined to comment on that issue. Rausch said the state would work “very closely” with the railroad to find a way for trains to travel up to 110 mph on that stretch.