Congresswomen Slaughter expands on New York State’s Rail application
Well, this is a surprise. I wrote a piece about New York State’s recent award of $151 million out of $8 Billion in federal funds for high speed rail. The post was titled Trickle up dysfunction: New York State and and High Speed Rail Failure. The premise of the post was that the application submitted by New York State was weak and only with help from the Congressional delegation was New York State awarded $151 million. Anyway, Congresswoman Slaughter saw the post, read it and wrote this response to clarify and expand on the issue. Thank you Congresswoman Slaughter.
In his commentary on high-speed rail from last week, stlo7 asks if during the planning and preparation for our state high-speed rail application if New York State reached out or accepted help. The answer is yes. I know they accepted help because I coordinated our Upstate Congressional Caucus, CSX, Amtrak and others in that effort.Let me first point out that I’m thrilled at the funding New York received from the stimulus package. Out of 38 states that divided up $8 billion, New York ranked eighth in funding. This was not a high-speed rail failure; this was a $151 million high-speed rail WIN and because of the work we did together New York is a step closer to a third track dedicated to passenger rail which will connect Buffalo to Albany to New York bringing economic vitality across Upstate.
Because of the efforts by all the parties mentioned above along with the Governor’s office and New York Department of Transportation, the necessary parties in New York have come together to comprehensively lay out how we’re going to make rail a reality.
My efforts on rail remain strong. My office has held over 50 meetings on high-speed rail and I speak regularly with the Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood about the strong need to build a third track in New York.
I believe it’s also important to note that the $151 million New York received from the stimulus package is only one source of federal funding. Already with other members of the Upstate Caucus in the House, we’ve secured $4.7 million from this year’s appropriations bills for signal crossing improvements and we’ve already begun the process that will secure more in next year’s funding. I’m pleased that this administration is dedicated to building high-speed rail throughout the country and I’ll continue to work diligently to make sure that New York gets its fair share.
I understand that this will be at least a $2 billion project and I understand that once funded this will take 2-3 years to complete. I also understand that improved transportation helps stimulate an economy. We know that New York has a proud history of rail. And I’m positive that with the dedicated and skilled workforce of Upstate New York, we will open new opportunities across Upstate. I will continue to work with the state, Amtrak, CSX and others to make this program a reality.
Related posts:
Thanks for sharing this. I will say that Congresswoman Slaughter does appear to be fighting hard for us on this front. She’s one of the few. She’s also been a strong advocate for a multi-modal transit station downtown in the face of stiff opposition from RTS and RGRTA. It’s important for us to write our representatives OFTEN and keep on them about these issues AND also to let Louise know that we value her efforts. Transit is going to be the key to unlocking Rochester’s potential moving forward. But our leaders need to continually hear our collective voices. And thanks to stlo7… love your site.
I must respectfully state that I am not satisfied with Congresswoman Slaughter’s conciliatory posting.
I wrote to Congresswoman Slaughter on January 23, 2009 and never received a reply or acknowledgement from her staff. I did order a Deliver Confirmation on that piece of mail, so I know her office did receive it. I also wrote similar letters to all the Representatives along the Empire Corridor, as well as our two U.S. Senators, and did not receive responses or acknowledgements from any of them. It makes me wonder as to the depth of their interest in and understanding of rail passenger transporation in Upstate New York and whether it goes further than press releases and sound bites.
In contrast, I will say that my communications with the Amtrak Executive Offices in Washington have been received warmly, respectfully and given careful consideration. Unfortunately, with regard to high-speed rail funding, the Amtrak Executive Office does not call the shots.
Ridership on the Empire Corridor has declined over the years for a variety of reasons. Reliability of service is an important reason.
Trains between New York and Albany-Rensselaer were cancelled or delayed for several days beginning February 24, 2010 because of weather-related problems. The ice storm of December 11-12, 2008 also shut down passenger service on this line. The area between Poughkeepsie and Rensselaer has been vulnerable to weather for years. Historically, the public perceives trains as weather-resistant, as they should be.
The Empire Corridor between New York City and Albany-Rensselaer unfortunately is no longer able to maintain that tradition. If this part of the Empire Corridor is unable to function, then there is no rail passenger service between New York City and Utica, Syracuse, Rochester or Buffalo. The Poughkeepsie-Rensselaer signal system is the most urgent of projects on the Empire Corridor.
The signal system, the principal source of problems, needed to be replaced over 20 years ago, but it wasn’t. It should be pointed out that New York State abolished its DOT Rail Division nearly 25 years ago.
What is the point of talking about high-speed rail if New York State is not capable of providing basic, reliable service? The most important thing is not how fast trains are capable of going. What is important is how long it takes to get from Point A to Point B. There’s a difference. To state it another way, it is pointless to be able to go 120 or 150 mph between Rochester and Buffalo when the trains coming from New York are unreliable. It’s not a regional political argument over who gets the project funding, or favoring one part of the state over another. It’s simple common sense.
The second project I suggested to our Congresspeople was the second track between Albany and Schenectady. That did receive some of the HSR funding. However, once again, a second track between Albany and Schenectady is not terribly useful without reliable service between Poughkeepsie and Rensselaer.
And the third most-important project, which would improve running times between New York and Buffalo, involves some signal and switch work in the Utica area. This could have a great impact on the reliability of service between the Buffalo area and Albany-Rensselaer.
Where did I get the information on which I based my suggestions? I got it from the dispatchers, signal maintenance personnel and track maintenance personnel who know first-hand, on a day-to-day basis, how the railroad operates. These weren’t the ideas of consultants or executives sitting in far-off offices whose thoughts are more theoretical than practical.
It appears that no one in the decison-making process for New York’s high-speed rail planning and funding has a good overall picture of how the system needs to work. I hope that in the near term, NYDOT is able to establish something comparable to the 100+ employee Rail Division it had before 1986 and get New York “back on track” again. A new signal system between Poughkeepsie and Rensselaer is the first order of business.
Tim Truscott
empirestate@att.net
131 Jay St.
Albany NY 12210