| You may recall that not too long ago, the state of Florida--or more particularly the stripped screw that they elected Governor, Rick Scott--rejected some $2.4 billion dollars in cash which had been set aside for the construction of high speed rail lines in Florida. Because, apparently, Florida has no tourism industry, and therefore no need to transport people who don't have cars available.
New York State on the other hand has huge potential use for high speed rail, and so Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood was set upon probably before he even got into his office the next day.
The two main ambushers, I have no doubt, were the twin queens of HSR: Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Congresswoman Louise Slaughter. As a result of their efforts, more than $800 million of that $2.4 billion is going to be spent on rail projects either in, or affecting, New York.
Specifically:
$450 million will be spent on improving the Northeast Corridor, which is along the route from Washington DC to New York City.
$295 million will go to reducing congestion at the HAROLD Interlocking in New York City, which is part of the Amtrak/LIRR system. While not city to city high speed rail in the way most of us envision, this is a major commuter hub, and at peak traffic times sees some 48 trains per minute moving through.
$58 million will go to "capacity improvements" in the Empire Corridor, the 460 mile stretch from Niagara Falls to New York City.
$1.4 million will fund the design of the new Rochester Intermodal Station, which will replace the current "temporary" Rochester Amtrak station which has been in service for 37 years. (Not a typo.)
I'm sure many of us would have liked to see rather more cash devoted to the upstate area. After all, the long-haul distances along the Buffalo-Rochester-Syracuse-Albany-NYC route are where high speed rail could best shine. However, between the continued infrastructure investment, and the jobs that that will provoke, I think we'd all like to extend a round of thanks to Senator Gillibrand and Congresswoman Slaughter. |
