(Here is a photo of 1,000 KPH Super High-Speed Train for China. 1,000 KPH is equivalent to about 620 mph. That means, from New York City it would take about 20 minutes to get to Albany and a little over 1/2 an hour to Washington DC. Really, what are we waiting for - read the article and find out.)
New York's slow train to high-speed rail
BY BILL HAMMOND
Albany's latest push to bring high-speed rail to New York is a depressing reminder of how far we've fallen from our glory days as the Empire State.
Here we are, watching China crisscross its countryside with thousands of miles of state-of-the-art magnetic levitation (maglev) trains that zoom along at 220 mph. France's TGV trains have cruised at 170 mph or better since 1981. And the best New York aims to do - maybe, someday, with a little luck - is nudge Amtrak service between New York City and Buffalo up to a measly 110 mph for limited stretches.
The rest of the developed world has a term for that kind of train. They call it "conventional" rail. Which is another way of saying that New York's current Amtrak service - which pokes along at 60, 70, 80 mph on a good day - is shamefully slow.
So 110 would be a marked improvement - and at least bring New York back to the standard of the 1950s, when the 20th Century Limited whizzed from Grand Central to Chicago at 100 mph-plus. But it's hardly anything for New Yorkers to crow about in what is now, after all, the 21st century. And it's far from clear that the state's leaders will really do what it takes to achieve even that modest goal. In fact, they show troubling signs of nickel-and-diming the effort - which could end up wasting a lot of time and tax dollars on an ultimately dead-end project.
Which, in truth, has been the pattern for 17 years in New York.
Way back in 1993, then-Gov. Mario Cuomo announced a big plan to run bullet trains from New York City to Albany. Never happened. Gov. George Pataki and former Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno touted their own plan a few years later. That went nowhere, as well.
Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo must put this latest try on a better track - or his high-speed rail initiative will fizzle just as so many have before. The key to a truly functional, modern rail system in New York is laying dedicated track for passenger service. The unsustainable status quo is that New York's Amtrak trains operate mainly on a track network that's primarily intended for, and used by, freight trains.
Waiting for slow-moving freight cars to clear the route is the main reason why passenger trains are so often delayed by hours, especially between Buffalo and Albany. There's also a huge bottleneck between Schenectady and Albany, where there's only one track in either direction. Plus, the tracks' many twists and turns and at-grade road crossings make it dangerous to navigate at high speeds. For safety reasons, track owner CSX sets a speed limit of 90 mph on its network. If the state wants trains to go any faster than that, CSX says, it must build a dedicated, fenced-in line at least 30 feet from neighboring track.
Which, if the state were serious about building true high-speed rail, is what it would do anyway. It would lay the track as straight as possible - going through mountains instead of over them or around them - to maximize velocity. And it would bridge over or tunnel under every last road crossing, to avoid pulverizing errant road vehicles.
That's what it would take for Amtrak trains to go 110 mph and up. That's what Europeans have been doing for decades. That's what China is doing aggressively right now. But state officials are choking on the price tag, which would indeed run into the billions. So they scrambling for ways to do it on the cheap.
They're talking about adding extra lines here and there to get past bottlenecks. But mostly, they're leaning on CSX to bend its safety standards and let the trains run faster - or try to run faster - on its slow tracks. They seem overly focused on achieving that 110 mph number - on a least a few, brief stretches of the route - because that's what it takes to qualify for federal grants. Plus it lets them sell it to an unwary public as "high-speed." This is the wrong way to go - because a true high-speed rail system would be worth the huge investment.
It would give New Yorkers cheaper and more convenient options for travel. It would boost the upstate economy. It would reduce dependence on foreign oil and contribute to the fight against global warming.
After all, this is the state that built the Erie Canal - and made itself the jumping-off point for exploring and settling the West. We should try thinking big again.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/11/30/2010-11-30_new_yorks_slow_train_to_highspeed_rail.html#ixzz1GDcCvhfn
whammond@nydailynews.com
Bill Hammond's column appears every Tuesday in the Daily News. An Albany-based editorial writer and columnist for the Daily News, Hammond has covered shenanigans at the state Capitol since 1998. He joined The News in 2005 after stints at the New York Sun, the Daily Gazette of Schenectady and the Post-Star of Glens Falls. He lives in Saratoga Springs.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/11/30/2010-11-30_new_yorks_slow_train_to_highspeed_rail.html#ixzz1GDc6IA4z
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