Amtrak improvements on deck for Rhinecliff; Vermont service
With new administration, rail outlook brightens
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A New York-bound Amtrak train prepares to leave the Albany-Rensselaer train station on Monday Feb. 25, 2019, in Rensselaer, N.Y. Projects to improve passenger flow to the platforms are planned. (Will Waldron/Times Union)Will Waldron/Albany Times Union
On the verge of its 50th anniversary, the outlook for Amtrak has brightened considerably.
The passenger railroad has received federal support to restore daily service on a dozen long-distance routes, order new locomotives and passenger cars, and extend services on existing routes, members of the rail advocacy group Empire State Passengers Association (ESPA) were told at their annual meeting this past weekend.
By ERIC ANDERSON (Albany) Times Union Amtrak officials have been crisscrossing the United States in recent months, meeting with state transportation officials in places like Tennessee, Texas and Nevada as they seek to bring train service to some of the nation’s fastest growing population centers. While most of the focus is on new routes in the South and West, New York state and the Capital Region likely would benefit from the effort as well. Amtrak is focusing on developing new “corridors,” routes tying together population centers that are several hundred miles apart and offer frequent train service. Some of the changes would be extensions of existing routes.
120-year-old Albany rail bridge gets no state mention
Cuomo s transportation plan does invest in many other rail, plane, transit systems
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Work crews open the Livingston Avenue Bridge in this photo from 2011. Passenger rail advocates say they re concerned the 120-year-old bridge could fail, cutting off rail passenger service upstate beyond Rensselaer. (John Carl D Annibale / Times Union)John Carl D AnnibaleShow MoreShow Less
Governor Andrew Cuomo drives FDR s Packard with Marie Therese Dominguez, Commissioner of DOT, Albany County Executive Dan McCoy, and Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan, over the finished flyover for the new exit 3 off of Interstate 87, on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2019, in Colonie. The new ramp is part of improvements at and around Albany International Airport.(Paul Buckowski/Times Union)Paul Buckowski/Albany Times UnionShow MoreShow Less
MTA vote could open way for new trains upstate
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The board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is expected to approve a contract for at least 19 new locomotives from Siemens Mobility Inc. when it meets Wednesday, opening the way for other agencies, including the New York State Department of Transportation, to exercise their options to purchase their own locomotives to replace equipment operating beyond its expected life span.
The state DOT option for 26 so-called dual mode locomotives would allow it to replace a fleet of aging General Electric locomotives purchased in the 1990s. DOT s dual mode locomotives are designed to operate either with diesel power or with electric power drawn from a third rail, which they use to travel through the tunnels into New York City s Penn Station without emitting diesel exhaust.
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