Just posted at BuffaloNews.com
Claiming state transportation officials have struck a “nasty blow” to Buffalo’s distressed East Side, the Common Council wants decision-makers to reconsider the Central Terminal as a hub for a proposed high-speed rail line.
The Council today unanimously reaffirmed its support of a plan to use the long-vacant train station as a regional hub if New York receives stimulus funds to build high-speed rail.
Last week, Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, who heads the Upstate New York Caucus, said the Central Terminal is ill-suited to become a rail hub again. The group has made bringing high-speed rail to Western and Central New York a top priority.
Council President David A. Franczyk said the station was ruled out based on flawed information supplied by the state Department of Transportation. Franczyk said the officials referred to problems that would occur as a result of freight tracks located at the northwest corner of the terminal. There are no tracks in that spot, Franczyk insisted.
It’s plain and simple, the Buffalo Central Terminal is the place for High Speed Rail. I would hate to see the Exchange Street Station and Deppew Station as a hub for High Speed Rail. The BCT has a large waiting room, many ticket counters, a resturant, and a vast train concourse that can accommodate rail passengers and to keep everything going smooth. I know that the Exchange Street Station and Depew Station has neither of these.
New York State’s plans for HSR themselves admit that the Exchange Street station is inadequate and would have to be replaced.
And there’s still the issue of trains having to back out of downtown to get back to the junction to Chicago or New York City located behind Central Terminal. I’ve never been to the Exchange St. station, but I’m sure to enlarge it and even install more tracks, after an act of Congress to secure the rights of way, or a way to get the trains out without backing up would cost more in the long run, with limited benefits, than to restore train service to Central Terminal, and run shuttle bus service from there to and from downtown, at least until the NFTA airport rail corridor becomes a reality. And then there’s the years of street traffic snarls that would take place around Exchange St. during the project, and vehicle parking problems as well, even after it was completed. Even if high speed rail does become a reality, Central Terminal is still, without question, the very best option!