Assemblyman Sam Hoyt is gung-ho for getting high-speed rail system to New York.

Hoyt wrote a letter to President-elect Barack Obama, asking for a portion of the proposed $500 billion stimulus package (which includes signifcant funding for infrastructre improvements) to include funding for a high-speed rail between New York City and Buffalo.

Hoyt recently penned an op-ed in the Buffalo News calling for funding for this project and his chief of staff, Mark Hennessey, has created a facebook page that has 615 members.

The idea for a high-speed rail has been bounced around since the 1990s, but never gained any substantive traction. Gov. Mario Cuomo talked about the proposal in campaign speeches, but was then defeated by Gov. George Pataki in 1994. Pataki tried to secure money for a high-speed rail link to Schnectady after Sept. 11, 2001. In 2005, former Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno created a taskforce to make recommendations for improving the rail system, but it didn’t go anywhere after that.

Hoyt isn’t the only one calling for a high-speed rail. Samuel Schwartz, P.E., who served as a Department of Transportation Traffic commissioner under Mayor Edward Koch, wrote an op-ed in City Hall calling for Gov. David Paterson and NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg to hop on bandwagon.

And Senate Democratic Leader Malcolm Smith has said that a high-speed rail for upstate would be a legislative priority.

Source: Times Union