© 2024
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
An update has been released for the Android version of the WAMC App that addresses performance issues. Please check the Google Play Store to download and update to the latest version.

Cuomo Seeks High-Speed Rail Progress In 2020

An Amtrak train arrives at the station in Hartford, CT.
WAMC

Governor Andrew Cuomo wants to try again to install high0speed rail across New York.

Politicians have talked of high-speed rail across New York for decades, as Europe and Asia built speedy and efficient systems. Studies have been conducted, including one by former Governor David Paterson in 2010, and then abandoned.  

Now, Governor Cuomo says he wants to try again, and will convene a group of private sector engineers to “reexamine past high-speed rail plans,” and rethink some of the assumptions made in those proposals to try to find a better way to actually achieve high-speed rail in New York. 

Cuomo, a Democrat, says he wants to borrow the model used to repair the L-Train tunnel between Brooklyn and Manhattan, where a panel of non-governmental experts found a faster way to fix the tunnel and avoided a long-term shutdown of the tracks. 

Cuomo says most of the State's population lives within a short distance from existing train tracks, which connect the state through New York City, Albany, and Buffalo. But he says the lines average a speed of 51 miles per hour, meaning it is often the slowest method available for New Yorkers to travel.    

Cuomo does not say how much a conversion to high-speed rail might cost. A study completed in 2014, found the price tag could be as high as mor than $14 billion if new tracks were built.

Karen DeWitt is Capitol Bureau chief for New York State Public Radio, a network of public radio stations in New York state. She has covered state government and politics for the network since 1990.
Related Content