New York governor fired up about high-speed rail

A bullet train connecting Portland, Ore., to Vancouver, British Columbia, is being talked about in the Washington state legislature.

David C. Lester

The Times Herald-Record is reporting that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is pushing the leaders of his state to take another look at true high-speed rail for the state, and how it could benefit the region. With New York City already the midpoint of the rail line between Washington, D.C. and Boston, Mass., it enjoys the best that the United States currently offers in high speed rail, with Amtrak Acela trains traveling around 125 m.p.h.

Cuomo, however, wants to implement high-speed rail service between other cities in the state. The governor recently said that “high-speed rail is transforming economies around the world. We’ve been told that bringing this technology to our state is too expensive, too difficult and would take too long – that’s not an acceptable attitude for New York.”

Cuomo pointed to the recent repair of the L Train Tunnel, which extends from Manhattan to Brooklyn, as an example of how renewed determination and focus can accomplish things thought to be too much to handle. He said “when we developed our plan to repair the L Train Tunnel, the team of experts we assembled questioned every assumption and brought new creativity to a seemingly intractable problem. We not only found a way to repair the tunnel without shutting down service, we are doing it ahead of schedule. This kind of outside-the-box thinking will help us determine how we could deliver high-speed rail for New York.”

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