Answers awaited to high-speed rail funding questions

Tom Tobin – Staff writer
Business – September 30, 2009 - 3:00am

The Associated Press file photo 2000

America 2050 ranks the upstate corridor near the back of the top 50 of 27,000 routes examined for high-speed rail value. New York to Rochester was 50

New York’s entrance into the $8 billion high-speed rail sweepstakes began with a flourish last March, as Gov. David Paterson laid out a vision for a new, fast passenger train network connecting Rochester to Buffalo, Syracuse, Albany and New York City.
Since then, more questions than answers have arisen about the state’s — and America’s — rail future.
As in: When will the federal government decide on New York’s application — a $564 million request covering 38 separate projects, including $48 million for new platforms and track alignment at the Rochester station? How will New York’s plan translate into business growth and local jobs? How much more beyond the $8 billion is required to finish the job?
Some answers to the first question may come as soon as next month. That’s when the Federal Railroad Administration may start awarding grants from the $8 billion pot, which is part of the economic stimulus package that Congress approved last winter. New York’s bid for about a half-billion dollars comes out of that appropriation, which President Barack Obama has called a “down payment.”
Another deadline looms even as the FRA considers first-round grants. States have until Friday to apply for the next round, and according to U.S. Rep. Louise Slaughter, New York’s request may hit $5 billion. State officials wouldn’t confirm that number but said the proposal would be enough to complete the high-speed line from New York City to Buffalo.
That application would appear to exceed by far what the president has planned for high-speed rail. Obama’s budget proposes only $5 billion in non-stimulus funds over five years.
The FRA was deluged with applications for high-speed-rail stimulus money last summer, with requests totaling $108 billion, far above the $8 billion available.
“It was more than we expected,” said Rob Kulat, an FRA spokesman. “We went back to help states fine-tune their applications.” Kulat wouldn’t say if New York’s was one of those subjected to a tune-up.
Paterson, in announcing New York’s ambitious rail plan, lauded the potential economic development impact upstate. The state’s application says that upstate has 3,500 workers in 30 rail-related businesses that could benefit from high-speed rail contracts.
Some of the rail firms in the Buffalo and Rochester region said they weren’t banking at this point on much business from high-speed rail and expected a lot of the bids to go out of state. Paterson’s office said there were many New York companies capable of handling the infrastructure work and that keeping the jobs in the state is achievable.
New York is home for one major train builder: Alstom Transportation Inc. in Hornell, which manufactures and refurbishes train engines and cars. Alstom, an international firm, also has a signaling division in Henrietta and other offices in New York.
Because the Hornell plant does rail work for customers around the country, one scenario, spokeswoman Isabelle DeFleurac said, might be that Alstom gets major high-speed rail contracts, adding upstate workers, but for projects in other parts of the country.
New York has an important high-speed rail champion in Slaughter, the Democratic chair of the powerful Rules Committee. “I’m calling the secretary of transportation all the time to make the case,” Slaughter said. “I think we’re going to get what we’re looking for.”
Slaughter’s case got a minor boost recently when a Washington-based think tank, America 2050, included the Buffalo-New York and Rochester-New York corridor in the top 50 of 27,000 routes examined for their high-speed-rail value. But neither city was high on the list —Buffalo was 43rd and Rochester just made it in 50th place. Heading the list were the routes from New York City to Washington and Los Angeles to San Francisco.
“California is far ahead in its planning, and the New York to Washington is a natural. A lot of the other applications don’t make sense at this point,” said Andy Kunz, CEO of the new pro-high-speed rail lobby, US High Speed Rail Association.
Kunz said New York shouldn’t expect much in the first round of funding, and the lobby’s own assessment has the upstate New York corridor developed a decade or more from now.
As to how far the amount set aside will go toward building a high-speed rail network, Kunz said that China is projecting a $700 billion system. “I don’t know how much it will take,” Slaughter said. “But I stress all the time how important this boost will be to upstate New York.”
TTOBIN@DemocratandChronicle.com