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1. Max says:

   May 1, 2016 at 4:01 pm

   I say we skip high speed rail and go strait to hyperloop

2. Rick says:

   May 2, 2016 at 7:54 am

   if I am going to Buffalo… I am not taking a train… are they serious?

3. Ben says:

   May 2, 2016 at 8:43 am

   I feel like I’m fairly in favor of high speed rail, but a line only between Buffalo and Rochester doesn’t make a ton of sense to me. While things may be improving in both cities, neither is built up anywhere near enough to justify going out of your way to take the train, it’s just to easy and convenient to drive. Now if we were talking a line all the way to NYC…completely different story.

4. Adrian says:

   May 2, 2016 at 9:21 am

   High speed rail from Toronto to Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany and then to NYC would work. High speed rail from Buffalo to Rochester only would not.

5. Michael says:

   May 2, 2016 at 5:14 pm

   all good comments, but they really are shortsighted; HSR between Rochester and Buffalo would only be the start…

6. Ben says:

   May 3, 2016 at 9:15 am

   They aren’t marketing it as the start of a full line though, they’re saying this is so people can commute back and forth from Rochester/Buffalo and in general that just doesn’t make sense to most of us. If this project is just a new line or two that Amtrak will switch over to between the two cities and travel at higher speeds, like that one little stretch out by Albany were they hit like 90 mph, then that’s fine, but just tell it like it is. It will speed up travel THROUGH the corridor, but I highly doubt it will be a success for commuters.

7. Max says:

   May 3, 2016 at 4:51 pm

   If we hadn’t already built out the highway system to the extent that we did, it would make more sense to have trains. At this point the highway is there and it is quite inexpensive and convenient to use so I don’t know where the demand for train would come from.

8. John says:

   May 3, 2016 at 9:30 pm

   I get the point of making it the first step of a larger Buffalo to NYC line. I’d like it, but I see a lot of Roc to Buff traffic and not a lot of Buff to Roc. I would use it for Bills and Sabres games and maybe to go to Buffalo to stay out till 4 am. For this to really work we would need regional planning in Rochester and Buffalo. Jobs would need to come back into the city, so someone could easily get to employment after taking the train to that city. I don’t see that happening, so the car will always have the advantage.

   It’s a real shame, if we subsidized rail like we did driving and highways, we’d have world class rail travel.

9. Brian says:

   May 5, 2016 at 9:28 am

   Is this something that is just a beginning and can/will be extended to other cities and eventually NYC/Boston? If so, I would definitely be all for it. I work in Buffalo, stay in Buffalo during the week and back home to Rochester on the weekends, I think that something much faster so I could possibly spend more time home in Rochester would be great.

10. Matthew Denker says:

    May 5, 2016 at 11:07 am

    So I’ve been away, but I’ve spent some time thinking about this, and I actually think that not only could a high speed rail link between Rochester and Buffalo be exciting, but it could also be successful with a little massaging of some key variables. First, said train should have 5 stops – Downtown Rochester, Rochester Airport, Somewhere in the middle with a huge free parking lot, Buffalo Airport, Downtown Buffalo. This would allow for flights to be sorted between the two cities. It would also allow for the application of current rental car infrastructure without trying to duplicate downtown. If we assume service at the level of Ouigo, but with half-size trains, you’re looking at 600 passengers for a full trip each way. One has to imagine a service like this working at about 75% utilization, so let’s say that it’s 450 per train. Of the 18000 passengers per day for both airports combined, that means even if only 10% of the airport riders use it, there are 4 trains a day worth of service. Tickets for the service are frequently in the $50 range, which sounds untenable in this case until you factor in parking costs (it’s free in the middle of nowhere!) and the real kicker to drive use – a toll surcharge for entry at exits 45/46/47 with exiting at 50. The toll could be waved for exiting at the mid-city parking lot (and set at whatever rate promotes using the train, really).

    With a little bit of bus service rearranging at both ends to provide better access to job centers and dense residential centers, I think the whole thing could work pretty well with at least hourly service from about 6am – 10pm, and potentially more. If we assume a 3min penalty for each stop (15min end to end), and a speed of 200mph otherwise, we’re looking at 23 minutes of running and 15 of stopping, for a 38 min ride from downtown to downtown. An airport to airport transfer would be just 27 minutes. From the middle parking lot (let’s say it’s Batavia). it would be 15 minutes to either airport and less than 20 to downtown.

    If this were then extended across upstate and to NYC (with toll surcharges along the way – which could be waved for commercial vehicles), it could be very very successful.

    Anyhow, that’s my really quick back of the envelope 2 cents on the whole thing.

11. Ben says:

    May 5, 2016 at 1:55 pm

    Don’t want to be super critical here but when have they EVER said 200 mph between Buffalo and Rochester? Even the Acela express trains down by NYC only hit 150, and I just find it very hard to believe we’d be getting something even faster up here. I’d have to look up the document, but I remember seeing something in the past that laid out the prices for different high speed proposals and obviously as the trains get faster, the price tag on the whole project gets astronomical. Maybe I’m just being realistic, but even if this were to happen here, I imagine the top speed would be 90-120 mph tops.

12. Richard Long says:

    May 17, 2016 at 1:55 am

    In 1931 High Speed Rail existed from Lyell & Glide to downtown Buffalo. The Express made the run in 48 minutes, with electricity provided by the Genesee River and Olcott Creek. It was called the Interurban.

    In 1935 track was laid down Lyell Ave to the Subway. A group of trolley company owners assembled a train of their cars, and rode from Boston to Louisville Kentucky to attend the Derby in great comfort. The track in place allowed it to happen with ease and speed.

    In 2016 a bunch of politicians who know ZIP are convincing a bunch of kids who don’t know HISTORY this is a New Concept.

    Guess what? The right of way from Rochester to Buffalo still exists and could be put into service very easily. Ever notice the bridge behind the Lou Morin Memorial Garbage Plant East of Lee Road? You can see it from the intersection of Lee Rd and Trolley Blvd.

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