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Written on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 6:42am by Alan Bedenko | 56 Comments

High Speed Rail in Tor-Buff-Chester

Douglas Turner in the Buffalo News wrote about Congresswoman Louise Slaughter’s push for high-speed intercity rail for upstate New York:

Reversing more than three decades of neglect, even attempted bureaucratic suffocation, President Obama has placed the White House strongly behind Amtrak and a national intercity rail passenger system.

In one month, Obama has proposed sending $13 billion into the cause. And if Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, D-Fairport, has her way, upstate New York should get a good share of it.

Slaughter’s goal is what aides call “a third track” dedicated to passenger rail running 300 miles from Buffalo-Niagara to Albany along the current CSX right of way.

As everyone knows, with some very specific exceptions, long-haul passenger rail in the US shares the track, and yields right-of-way to, freight. That means that the 70s-era service you get from Amtrak has the added value of extensive delays.

Dedicating a track along existing rights-of-way for passenger travel would be a huge leap forward. A corridor between Buffalo and Boston, with branches off to New York are called for in the federal plan for modernizing rail service in this country.

This is well overdue. But for Buffalo’s purposes, I don’t know that HSR to Albany is as valuable as a link between Toronto, Buffalo, and Rochester would be. If we buy the Floridian notion of a Tor-Buff-Chester megaregion, it would help to integrate the economy of each area into the other, and enable hitherto crazy notions such as commuting between any of the three. If you pre-clear customs and immigration before departure, like you can at some airports, it would be even easier. But at speeds of 150 MPH, HSR service would mean that Toronto or Rochester could each be a 30-45-minute train ride from Buffalo.

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56 Comments

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  1. Jim Ostrowski says:
    March 7, 2009 at 10:37 pm

    Didn’t Lee use buses for Pickett’s Charge?

    You really have to spell it out for al. This is the digital age where information travels at the speed of light. I can send the Bible to China in a few seconds but you can’t communicate with an NFTA bus by any means. They use 19 century paper schedules.

    Bottom line. Please make my day. Please allow me to continue to think that every single liberal in town LOVES this cruel and primitive system that screws the poor. Please tell me you all love those big, expensive, ugly, empty buses clogging the narrow city streets.

    Liberals love humanity in the abstract. It’s individuals they couldn’t care less about.

  2. Jim Ostrowski says:
    March 8, 2009 at 1:21 am

    BTW, I know this a pragmatist site that values empirical research. Rode the bus for four years, 24 miles a day, to high school. I know what it’s like to stand in a blizzard for 25 minutes waiting for the GD bus.

  3. al l says:
    March 8, 2009 at 6:54 pm

    “BTW, I know this a pragmatist site that values empirical research. Rode the bus for four years, 24 miles a day, to high school.”

    So whats it been, Jim, 30, 40 years? Now thats up to date anecdotal research!!!!

    —–

    “You really have to spell it out for al.”

    You do. See, you have to spell out what you mean. First you make the words, then complete thoughts. Please try it. Refer to your earlier comments:

    Jim said: “19 century refers to the communications technology used–paper schedules.”

    but he had said:

    “And both you luddites continue to refuse to repudiate the 19C bus system.” [nothing here about paper!]

    _____

    “Please tell me you all love those big, expensive, ugly, empty buses clogging the narrow city streets.”

    Empty? Odd, i thought the Metro system just had a significant ridership increase. As far as clogging city streets, I wonder what the thousands of taxis you might prefer to the NFTA might do to traffic. Big and ugly? I had no idea you had such a well developed sense of aesthetics! Jim, I misjudged you!!!!

    ____

    “I can send the Bible to China in a few seconds but you can’t communicate with an NFTA bus by any means.”

    Well, its true you cant communicate with a NFTA bus. However, I do invite you to go downtown and try to do so in person.

    I assume that you mean that it isnt possible to know exactly what the next bus’s arrival time will be. That is true, although the Metro rail does do that. The schedule is of course, available online (and therefore on your web enabled phone) and is also accessible via telephone.

    Interestingly enough, those other municipal bus systems that are equipped to provide real time bus info, are what? Publicly owned! (almost exclusively). Dang government, innovating again!

    —–

    “Please allow me to continue to think that every single liberal in town LOVES this cruel and primitive system that screws the poor.”

    Jim, believe whatever you like. Believe that municipal buses are oppressing your liberty. Believe that the free market will help your sick grandma. Believe that Lincoln was the oppressor of the freedom loving Confederacy. Believe that making snide comments about the Governor’s legs is actually insightful political commentary. Believe that universal healthcare is a communist attempt to ensure your boils dont get lanced for 12 weeks. Believe government schools conspire to keep libertarianism down.

    Please, Jim, enjoy your beliefs. I know we all do.

  4. Jim Ostrowski says:
    March 8, 2009 at 10:43 pm

    I don’t take buses. It’s not about me. They provide lousy service for poor people. That’s the point. With al, you have to draw a diagram.

    “So whats it been, Jim, 30, 40 years? Now thats up to date anecdotal research!!!!”

    Precisely my point. They haven’t improved their “service” in 34 years.

    And if your point is that I claimed that Buffalo had bus companies in the 19C, well, yes, I do believe that. That was my point.

  5. al l. says:
    March 9, 2009 at 9:07 am

    “Precisely my point. They haven’t improved their “service” in 34 years.”

    first, how would you know what the service is like if you havent ridden a bus since the Ford administration? secondly, it your biggest indictment of the NFTA is paper schedule, Jim, youre a little out of touch.

    “They provide lousy service for poor people.”

    So now just poor people ride mass transit? Your bland stereotype echos the era from which you last rode.

    Anyway, this post was about HSR, and not about the NFTA. Please remember to stay on topic.

  6. al l. says:
    March 9, 2009 at 10:51 am

    but if you are interested in further reading on the rise in Bus/Rail patronage, please read:

    “NFTA ridership speeds up”
    http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/stories/2009/03/09/daily4.html?ana=from_rss

    Its probably a little more up to date than your most recent transit experiences.

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