Freqently Asked Questions
The History Of New York's Empire Corridor
The story of how our current Amtrak service on the Empire Corridor came to be – from the early days of steam locomotives, to the birth of the “Empire Service” in the last days of the New York Central, and the Turboliner Era of Amtrak.
Historic Documents
ESPA's Proposals for Service Improvements and Expansions
Lakeshore Rail Alliance
ESPA is very pleased to be a founding organizational member of the new Lakeshore Rail Alliance , which is advocating for increased & improved train service along the current Lake Shore Limited route between New York City & Chicago. The coalition includes All Aboard Ohio, the Empire State Passengers Association, the Chicagobased High Speed Rail Alliance, the Indiana Passenger Rail Association, the Northern Indiana Passenger Rail Association and the Northwest Ohio Passenger Rail Association.
Saratoga-Schenectady Service Extension
ESPA supports extending an existing Empire Service daily roundtrip to Schenectady and Saratoga , joining with the Saratoga Chamber and the Schenectady business community in asking New York State DOT to work with Amtrak to provide both cities with early morning departures to New York City and evening arrivals from New York City.
Hudson Line Projects
The combination of a New York-Albany infrastructure upgrade program for Amtrak and Metro-North's ‘Hudson Line’ and the introduction of shiny new modern Siemens Venture trainsets would make for a impressive “Higher Speed Rail” program, one on par with the Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor and new Miami-Orlando 'Brightline' intercity passenger service.
Climate Change and Passenger Rail
Planning and Management of the Empire Corridor
The great potential of the Empire Corridor has been repletely stymied by a lack of institutional capacity at the state level necessary to envision, plan, build, and manage investment in intercity passenger rail infrastructure and services. These needs to change if Upstate NY is to be ever be served by a modern intercity rail service.