(rshsdepot) All aboard: Rail to link Binghamton to Syracuse

[Bernie Wagenblast <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

All aboard: Rail to link Binghamton to Syracuse

Trains could run this year
BY BRAD HEATH
Press & Sun-Bulletin

BINGHAMTON -- New York will spend $9.7 million to start passenger rail
service between Binghamton and Syracuse, state officials said Wednesday.
But the once-daily trains will still take longer and cost more than driving
or taking a bus. And railroad officials who will run the new system say they
haven't looked at it closely enough to know just how many people will use
it. Daily service is expected by spring 2003. "Excursion service" could
begin this year. When the plan is finished, it would link Binghamton to
shopping and sporting events in Syracuse. It also would bring riders to the
entrance of the Amtrak station in northern Syracuse, meaning passengers
could catch connecting trains to other parts of the country. Officials
expect one-way tickets for daily passenger trains to cost about $25 when
service starts in 2003. Trains to hockey games and events at the Carrier
Dome could start this year. "Is this going to be perfect? No," said state
Sen. Thomas W. Libous, R-Binghamton. "But it's going to be a whole lot
better than what we have now." Passenger trains haven't run to Binghamton
since 1970. State officials began seriously considering a
Binghamton-to-Syracuse passenger rail link after a report prepared for the
state Transportation Department found that creating service to Scranton and
New York City would be a slow and expensive process. Setting up that
connection would take at least five years. Instead, New York will take the
$5 million it set aside to put Binghamton-area residents on trains to New
York and spend it putting them on trains to Syracuse. The Transportation
Department has earmarked another $1.3 million for the project and the state
Senate will add $3.3 million from a transportation fund carved out in the
state budget, Libous said. Most of the money will be spent fixing the track
connecting the two cities. In some places, it's so out of shape that federal
regulators say trains can't go more than 10 mph. The upgrades also are meant
to speed freight trains traveling between the cities. But even after the
tracks are fixed, service still won't be as fast as a bus or a car. New
York, Susquehanna and Western Railway Corp., which will operate the trains,
estimates a Binghamton-Syracuse trip will take about two hours. Along most
of the roughly 75-mile route, the trains won't be able to go much faster
than 45 mph. By car, the trip takes about an hour and a quarter. Greyhound
buses travel the route in an hour and a half, for $27 round trip. "As it is,
this can't compete with somebody driving," NYS&W Vice President Nathan Fenno
said. "The speed on the highway's 65. But we think there's a convenience
factor. There's the ability to relax or read instead of getting into road
rage on the highway." The trains would connect Binghamton with the Syracuse
University campus, nightlife at Armory Square, the Carousel Center mall and
eventually an Amtrak station. Libous said the company plans to run trains
consisting of two 90-passenger self-propelled cars between the two cities.
The cars are retired and rehabilitated New York City transit cars. The
trains would stop in Cortland and possibly other villages along the route,
which would run through Chenango Forks, Whitney Point, Marathon, Homer and
Tully. Fenno said NYS&W hasn't studied how many people might ride the
trains. "We've come to the conclusion that we're going to get the operation
running and test the market that way," he said. The schedule could change
depending on how many people take the trains, he said. NYS&W hasn't yet set
a schedule for the daily trains, but officials said they're likely to leave
in the morning and return in the evening. Part of the state's money will be
used to build a small train station in Binghamton, near Bevier Street,
Libous said. In addition to regular passenger service, the company is
considering running excursion trips that would take people from the Southern
Tier to Syracuse when the Binghamton Senators play the Syracuse Crunch or
for events at the Carrier Dome. The dome plays host to concerts, and
Syracuse University football and basketball games. The state Assembly is
considering using $3.3 million of its transportation money to create similar
excursion service between Binghamton and Utica, Libous said. Assemblywoman
RoAnn Destito, D-Rome, who has been pushing for that money, could not be
reached Wednesday. That line would connect with the Adirondack Scenic
Railroad in Utica. "Someday there's the potential that you could get on a
train in Binghamton and ride all the way up to Lake Placid," Fenno said.
"But that would be a very long trip."

Bernie Wagenblast
Transportation Communications Newsletter
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/transport-communications/


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