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Sunday, August 19, 2012

Letter to the Editor: Yankees are why Upstate NY needs high-speed rail


The Post Standard (Syracuse, NY)
August 13, 2012 Monday

To the Editor:

I recently took my 9-year-old grandson, a big Yankees fan, to see a New York Yankees' ballgame. Our plan was to arrive in New York City about 12:30 p.m., (scheduled arrival time), meet my son who works in the city, see the sights and take the subway to Yankee Stadium for a 7 p.m. game. On game day we awoke at 5 a.m. and arrived at the Syracuse Amtrak station at 6:15 a.m. for a 7 a.m. departure. As departure time neared, an announcement was made that the train would be half an hour late due to traffic lights not working. After repeated delays, we boarded for a 9 a.m. departure.

We finally arrived at Penn Station about 3 p.m. Our plans to see the 9/11 Memorial and the Statue of Liberty were reduced to viewing the memorial from the street and the statue from the distant view of Battery Park. The stadium, the Yankees' Memorial Park and seeing the delight and excitement displayed by my son and grandson was a wonderful experience. However, the following day we returned to Central New York after a hot, (the air conditioner was not working), six-hour train ride.
Imagine a three- to four-hour train ride to New York City, maybe even Montreal, seeing a ballgame, a show or shopping, and returning to Syracuse the same day. Our short time in New York City was overwhelmed by 12 hours on the train, plus three to four hours waiting at the stations and having to spend an overnight in a New York City hotel.

We have the ability to create a high-speed rail system, and we even have the offering of tax dollars to do it. I ask that our legislators do what is necessary to make high-speed rail a reality.

John Romano
North Syracuse

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

try flying in to NYC or taking a bus next time.

manx said...

Imagine if we had 220 mph trains like they do in France, Japan, or China. You could make it from Buffalo to NYC in like 3 hours. Chicago to NYC in like 6 hours and you could stop in Cleveland for a game against the Indians. Stop in Pittsburgh for an interleague game against the Pirates. We already have a high speed train linking us to AA Trenton and that line also links us to the Red Socks, Phillies, Orioles, and Nationals. Why not build it New York? While building a high speed rail line from NYC to Albany, Utica, Cuse, Rochester, and Buffalo; also built one to link us to the traveling Scranton-Wilkes-Barres, Binghamton, Elmira, Corning, and the Southern Tier. Imagaine the attendance records if Yankee fans from all over could make it to the Stadium in a matter of a few hours, by taking a high-speed train. We as Yankee fans must not settle for shitty air or bus travel and must fight for our great nation so that we can have high speed rail like China, Europe, and Japan and be the world leaders that we are, YANKEES!

De Razor said...

If that every happened we would have full houses for every game

New York Yankees said...

We as Yankee fans must not settle for shitty air or bus travel and must fight for our great nation so that we can have high speed rail like China..