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Could the diesel era be nearing its end? It sure sounded like it Friday morning at the Capital District Transportation Authority’s Albany garage as public officials outlined the benefits of CDTA’s new all-electric buses. There was plenty of wordplay.
The transit authority’s chairman, Jayme Lahut, said electric buses were just one more way to stay current, although it wasn’t clear it was intended as a pun.
State Sen. Neil Breslin, after describing the buses as quieter with no emissions, added that “I don’t think we’ll move as quickly (toward that) in the political world.”
And state Assembly member John T. McDonald said it was “an exciting day,” then added “it’s an electrifying day as well. CDTA is leading the charge in this effort.”
When Assembly member Pat Fahy included Interstate 787, the downtown Albany expressway, in her list of “more to come” from the transit authority, CDTA CEO Carm Basile was quick with a clarification.
“I think Pat got CDTA and CDTC (the policy-making Capital District Transportation Committee) mixed up. We don’t want anything to do with 787,” which some have suggested be torn up to reopen the Hudson River waterfront in downtown Albany.
Are the trains next?
Photo: Will Waldron, Albany Times Union
Photo: Will Waldron, Albany Times Union
Photo: Will Waldron, Albany Times Union
Photo: Will Waldron, Albany Times Union
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Carm Basile, chief executive officer for the Capital District Transportation Authority, speaks during an unveiling for CDTA’s four new electric busses on Friday, Jan. 10, 2020, in Albany, N.Y. CDTA’s
Carm Basile, chief executive officer for the Capital District Transportation Authority, speaks during an unveiling for CDTA’s four new electric busses on Friday, Jan. 10, 2020, in Albany, N.Y. CDTA’s implementation of the New Flyer Xcelsior CHARGE 40-foot buses are said to eliminate between 85 and 175 tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually, according to CDTA. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Photo: Will Waldron, Albany Times Union
Photo: Will Waldron, Albany Times Union
Photo: Will Waldron, Albany Times Union
Photo: Will Waldron, Albany Times Union
Speaking of electric buses, we were reminded of how much still needs to be updated in upstate’s rail network. A photo of Amtrak’s next-generation Acela high-speed electric train, just completed at the factory in Hornell, showed a small diesel switch engine towing it in the yard.
The new trains, like high-speed trains worldwide, depend on overhead catenary lines to deliver electricity that allows them to travel at ultra-high speeds. Third-rail power? That’s good for 80 or perhaps 90 mph at most, engineers tell us.
We wondered aloud why catenary couldn’t be strung from Penn Station up to Albany. That could allow Acela service to run from the Capital Region through to Washington, D.C., or other cities along the Northeast Corridor.
And it would cut the diesel fumes that the existing locomotive fleet now belches.
Training for jobs
Gov. Cuomo has proposed $175 million in job training funds to equip people with the skills employers say they need. This proposal, included in his 2020 State of the State address, comes as the Capital Region job market remains tight.
The funding could be considered an investment that would pay dividends in higher retail sales, higher income tax revenues and other stimulants to the local economy, as job seekers acquire skills that qualify them for better-paying positions, and they spend more as consumers.
Sounds like a winning proposal to us.
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