(The following article by Cathy Woodruff was posted on the Albany Times-Union website on February 24.)
RENSSELAER, N.Y. — A state Senate task force launched by then-Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno in 2005 to investigate and facilitate development of high-speed rail in upstate New York is shutting down.
The $5 million Senate appropriation for the task force has funded work by consultants who have studied a number of issues related to passenger rail service.
Recommendations stemming from the task force’s first study were the basis for a Department of Transportation plan for $22 million in improvements to rail infrastructure between New York City and Rensselaer.
The work, most of which is under contract, includes stabilization of a rock slope that slows trains to a crawl just north of New York City, the addition of a fourth track and extended platforms at Rensselaer Rail Station, and demolition of two former Amtrak stations just north of the new station.
The High-Speed Rail Task Force also has completed studies on the ownership and control of railroad tracks, a key issue as changes in rail service are contemplated and negotiated, and other prospects for rail improvement.
Much of the work has been done in consultation with other agencies, including DOT; the Capital District Transportation Authority, which provides bus service in the region; Metro North Railroad, a commuter rail line in the Hudson Valley; Amtrak, the national passenger rail service; and the Capital District Transportation Committee, the region’s transportation planning group.
Project manager James Cartin said about $600,000 of the original task force appropriation remains, but no further work has been requested.
Cartin said the studies commissioned by the task force, which is housed in the Rensselaer Rail Station offices of CDTA, have been deliberately designed to consider more than infrastructure.
“We outlined a comprehensive strategy to look at all aspects of intercity passenger service, and not just infrastructure,” Cartin said.
He said the task force, which operated originally under the volunteer direction of John Egan, who now heads the state’s Office of General Services, also advocated for plans that could deliver short-range improvements, such as more on-time service and expanded express service, as well as longer range big ideas.
Bruno initially established the task force with talk of “bullet trains” that would resemble high-speed rail service in Europe and Japan.
He later embraced shorter-term goals, such as improving the punctuality and availability of trains.