New York's Empire High Speed Rail Corridor

Well made. Although you probably triggered some people by referring to the Tappan Zee as the Mario M. Cuomo bridge.

Amtrak's Cascade's line crosses the Canadian boarder into Vancouver. So there is a precedent for international train travel.

There is another benefit you didn't mention. Massachusetts is currently working on expanding rail from Boston to Western Massachusetts. This would leader to faster speeds to Albany and points West of Albany as well which would be a huge benefit for upstate NY as they'd have faster access to another major economic center.

I'm so happy you created this video. It's a no brainer for high speed rail in upstate NY.

Thanks for the comprehensive video. As eluded to, keeping to 125 mph but eliminating conflicts with freight would please most New Yorkers. Penn to Stuart Airport would be a game changer. Going East of Penn Station routing to Jamaica via LIRR right of way brings close to JFK and there is serious talk of a train station on the NEC near LGA airport

The 125mph electric proposal shaved 3.5hrs off the current times and came in at around 12 billion...it called for upgrading the existing tracks to 110mph south of Albany and building a double tracked line west of Albany along the existing line...it was sadly rejected for a slow diesel 90mph train which will take 15 yrs to fully build out... The 125mph option had a yearly ridership project of 6.5 million passengers. The New route you propose skips over the large towns and small cities that drive the upstate usage.

I live in Philadelphia and am from Syracuse originally so my family is there and I don't have a car, so I take either the Northeast line or the Keystone line to NYC and then the Empire line to Syracuse. Having high-speed rail for the Empire line would be a dream-come-true for me Alas, I don't think it would ever happen because, like you pointed out, ridership falls off a cliff after Albany and the federal government would probably see the project as a big waste of money

One quibble I have - you don't have to use a dual mode train for Amtrak or convert electrification at all right away. Already on Metro North along the NEC there are sections of dual electrification, you could just continue using third rail where it's placed and Metro North could switch to overhead once they reach the end of the third rail. For the section from Penn, you can build overhead lines for Amtrak to use, and then at some point remove the third rail when Metro North no longer requires it. They already have dual mode trains so being able to use either mode wouldn't be an issue. Either way, you can have two systems on the same track, it's just not ideal.

Two home runs....for sure. Two out of two is damn good. Can't wait for the next video. I'm sure we won't be disappointed.

My ideal HSR system for New York State would be a NYC-Montreal line with 5 stops (Poughkeepsie and Plattsburgh) and a Buffalo-Boston line with 7 stops (all obvious) with provisions to extend from Buffalo towards Toronto and Cleveland, amd a schedule to make transfers at Albany as convenient as possible. (Each city would also need to fix its local & regional transit networks) Realistically the Empire corridor as described is much more likely, if only because its entirely within New York State and connects NY's main population corridor (the former Erie Canal). Although the easiest thing to do would be to push for more incremental improvements to get the existing services to be atleast competitive with the thruway. (Although you may have to build new tracks for Amtrak, or eminent domain to steal them from the frieght companies which would be unpopular.)

OOoh I love that transmission line idea!

I remember talk of this corridor back when I was shopping for colleges in the early 2000s (I ended up going to RPI near Albany) and getting excited to see initial capital investments with attempts to refurb old Amtrak Turboliners that ultimately went nowhere. There's a decently compelling interstate and international case for HSR in this corridor that you do a very good job discussing at the end. Truthfully, the corridor could benefit significantly more with strategic investments to get more of the line up to 110mph and with at least hourly service daily from NYC to Niagara.

There is an easy way (or easier certainly) of connecting the main line at Syracuse to get a station right in the middle of town, mostly at-grade with some cut-and-cover. It's also miles shorter than anything else under consideration, and of course one wonders why.

This one seems to be very complicated and expensive, I think if the federal government would have to pick one project to support, it should probably be the Chicago - Indianapolis route that you looked at in the previous video. But this corridor could be interesting if the state of New York can fund it on it's own to take some stress of the airports.

5:51 Ahh the Freedom Tunnel, I have a lot of memories there painting graffiti and watching trains fly by, there is actually a lot of interesting history behind this tunnel, it used to occupy plenty of homeless when Conrail came to an end and the tunnel was abandoned. The empty walls became a canvas for writers and the tunnel was taken over by graffiti, it still has a lot of amazing pieces to this day.

This is very impressive! Keep up the great work!

I'll always fight for high speed rail in New York, but I have one major problem with this proposal. The stations NEED to be in the downtown areas. The tract for instance you suggested for Rochester is in the middle of suburb hell. Think NIMBY x10. Also, it's nowhere near actual Rochester. All it would become would be a tiny station surrounded by a SEA of parking. That, and the station platforms in the existing downtown station were designed with high speed in mind. The trains have to slow down anyways to stop in these cities too. The trains aren't going to barrel through here at 150mph. The best bet would to be to straighten out all the curves like you suggested, but maintain the current route. We also can't just skip Utica, as it is a stop on the Empire Corridor.

Awesome video, keep 'em coming!

I think the international connection New York - Montreal is very intriguing. In terms of distance, it would smoke the cars and be competitive with planes. You already covered the southern part up to Albany, so that part could be used for the Empire Corridor. With a connection to Boston, the northern part could serve Montreal too. New York and Montreal are big, all three can put in enough political weight to get this done

Would it be an option to serve Buffalo Central Terminal, do a Tunnel below Larkinville, then cross the border at Fort Erie and following the Queen Elizabeth Way. Then putting the Niagara Falls Station on the Canadian side (with regional rail connecting the right side of the Niagara River from Buffalo) and onwards to St. Catharines, Hamilton and Toronto? Would love to see the old and marvelous Buffalo Central Terminal be in use again.