> For 4 years, my wife was travelling from Rochester to Syracuse and back every few weeks while she was in school. This is ~100 miles, with no intermediate stop

> For 4 years, my wife was travelling from Rochester to Syracuse and back every few weeks while she was in school. This is ~100 miles, with no intermediate stops. Pretty much a best-case scenario for a train, right? As I understand, no. There's too much traffic (mostly freight) between Albany and Buffalo for the two tracks that are owned by CSX and shared with Amtrak. As a result, things can move pretty slowly along there. They've been talking about adding track for a little while now, but I'm sure funding is a big issue. My experience with trains upstate has been lousy west of Albany, but south of Albany, I've only seen and heard good things. That said, there are generally more cost-effective ways to travel, like the discount bus services and often, sadly, just driving.