Couple local pieces recently concerning High Speed Rail.
http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/642389.html
http://artvoice.com/issues/v8n16/catching_that_train
I've taken Amtrak once a year from Buffalo to Penn Station since '04 and yes, DC Tom is right (never thought I'd say that here before), the train is pretty vacant for the most part until you get between Syracuse and Albany when it starts to fill in. That would change of course if the trains were much faster and didn't have to share the right of way with CSX. 2004 was the first year I ever took the Amtrak anywhere and it was pretty slow thanks to the sharing of tracks with freight trains, but since I detest flying, airlines, airline personnel, TSA personnel, the inconvenience of airports, airports themselves...etc etc for more reasons then can be explained here my daughter and I have taken Amtrak every summer since then.
I think this is an idea that was a long time coming after the Bush administration tried killing passenger rail in this country.