The critics of High-Speed Rail tend to fall into two camps; those who see it as just another political project that will in the end cost taxpayers, similar to Renaissance Square, Fast Ferry and the Soccer Stadium, or those who think it just isn't necessary. The reality is that High-Speed Rail, a technology that has been around for 30 years, has been very successful in places like Japan and Europe. This is exactly the kind of project that the US needs today to catch-up with the rest of the industrialized world, create good jobs and address energy eficiency issues. Unfortunately however, New York State did not submit a very compelling grant request to the federal government for first-round funding, as California, Flordia and N. Carolina did . And here in Rochester, there is no movement to plan for a multi-modal transportation facility to accomodate rail,bus,automobile and potentially light-rail. Again, it seems that Rochester and New York State are flubbing the opportunity that exists to move forward in an aggressive and intelligent way to take advantage of the opportunities to realize economic growth and transportation sustainability. We are a follower rather than a leader, and this MUST CHANGE !

I am torn about this new development. On one hand, I, as a railfan, am glad to see the rail companies flourishing. I am concerned, however, that this will interfere with my favorite trainwatching locations because of new safety measures designed to prevent accidents.

I hate to burst your bubble here, but the current tracks allow 79 mph travel and the 11 mile stretch being built to relieve CSX congestion will be designed for 110 mph travel. Given a 3 mile acceleration and 3 mile deceleration allowance, that means a train will travel for 5 miles at 20 mph faster than currently allowed. Do the math -- $151 million to save (at most) 75 seconds of travel time. Now you know why not one professional transportation engineer in DOT Albany or the DOT Washington takes this seriously. Louise Slaughter has staked her career on high speed rail much like Bill Johnson staked his on the fast ferry. Poof.

High Speed Rail in New York State (AKA - Slaughter's Folly) is little more than a dry land version of Rochester's Fast Ferry (AKA - Bill Johnson's Folly).

As with the Ferry, HSR is a massively expensive technology which, although it can be of value in many areas, is totally inappropriate and useless in this part of the country and lacks any semblance of a viable business case.

The Ferry offered travelers no savings in travel time. And it was far more expensive than the cost of driving between Rochester and Toronto. All that it did offer was a little glitz and the semi-convenience of having somebody else handling the trip arrangements and the trip itself. And as a result it crashed and burned and the taxpayers took it in the shorts.

As to HSR, given that travel times and costs between Buffalo and New York City are currently:

1) by air about 3 hours (flight + cab) and costs approximately $250 - $400 (round trip flight + cab)
2) by AmTrak about 8 hours and costs approximately $120- $150 for a round trip
3) by car about 7 hours and costs less than $100 (gas and tolls)….

…than just how much time can HSR cut when, at a minimum, trains from Buffalo will have to stop at places like Rochester, Syracuse, Rome, Albany/Schenectady, Kingston, Poughkeepsie, Newburgh, White Plains and Yonkers and so will have extremely limited opportunity to achieve any of the high speeds of which HSR is capable? An hour? Maybe two off current Amtrak times? The claims of 110 mph may be valid for non-stop trips of significant distances but are so much blue sky and moonshine for start/stop short hauls between upstate cities

And as to the cost of a HSR round trip, who knows? The supporters are strangely quiet on this point. But does anyone believe it will be cheap? Certainly it will cost far more than driving. And far more than current AmTrak service. So the big question is, will the cost remain far enough below air fares to persuade travelers to accept a couple of hours additional travel time just to save a few bucks?

And while I don’t have the figures needed to compare freight shipping costs between truck, train, air and HSR, I would be surprised if the overall relationship of time and costs differs significantly from those for passenger service. Further, I have yet to read that even the most enraptured HSR cheerleader is attempting to justify the public investment based on freight shipping alone.

So, as with the Fast ferry, aside from glitz, HSR will offer little, if anything, to travelers. There will be no great savings in travel time over AmTrak or car and none over air. There will be no savings in travel cost over Amtrak or car and probably little over air.
Yet those who advocate investing hundreds of millions of scare tax dollars in HSR in New York continue to extol its virtues (without explaining what those virtues are) and claim it will stimulate travel between our cities (again, without any support for these claims).

So Louise, let’s cut to the chase. HSR may millions of other people’s tax dollars into Western NY. It may result in a few new jobs. And it may provide some sexy photos for your re-election brochures. But it will NOT benefit the citizens of this state and it will NOT result in a renaissance for upstate businesses or attract new commerce or industry to NY. As I said at the beginning, it will simply be a dry land version of the Fast Ferry (which you also supported). And we all know how well THAT turned out.