SimTrains wrote:Neither of these stations would work at all. Your all missing the point completely here... The proposition is for a multi-model station what would support not only the new high speed trains, but also regional Amtrak trains, buses, taxi cabs, car rentals and shuttles which would take you other places like Niagara Falls, the Buffalo Airport, Downtown Buffalo, the Walden galleria, and all kinds of other places. Without a station that can support a transit network like that, the high speed rail would be worthless. This is why BCT would work perfectly. Where in the city would you build such a terminal? Where would one fit?
One of the reasons why the NYC built the BCT far out from the city, Lake Erie is a dead end. You can't run trains directly into the city. If you don't believe me, do a little research and learn about the first station built at Exchange St. Trains had to be backed out form the platforms, which took up too much time and resulted in chaos and delays.
I can only imagine that Niagara Falls bound passengers would be best served by existing Amtrak station in Niagara falls, downtown Buffalo passengers are best served by the Exchange Street stop and western suburbs are best served by the current station at Depew. The current stations service the region very adequately, and making passengers go to an inconveniently placed station, in a place where few people care to venture in broad daylight, let alone at night, seems like a surefire recipe for decreased patronage.
In comparison to the existing three stations, BCT is the least desirable location from the standpoint of non-railfan passengers. If "high speed rail" is made inaccessible to potential passengers, what is the point?
SimTrains wrote:The BCT at one time was able to handle all of this, and with a little renovation, it can happen again.
That sad truth is that it would require more than a "little restoration" to make even a portion of BCT a station again, with a potential cost in the hundreds of millions for any sort of restoration and perhaps tens of millions for even the severed, inaccessible, derelict passenger concourse.