There Will Be High-Speed Rail Upstate, Almost Definitely

RENSSELAER—At a decidedly low-speed press conference featuring over a dozen speakers, David Paterson and Chuck Schumer, with great fanfare, unveiled an updated state rail plan that calls for greater rail-freight use as well as high-speed passenger rail from Niagara Falls to New York City. Paterson called the plan "honest and achievable," promising that with $3 billion of funding, the high-speed service (110 m.p.h.!) that upstaters have long lusted for could become reality within three to five years. He likened the project's significance to the Erie Canal. "We know what needs to be done," said Schumer. "We have the means to attack the mountain that was lack of money.