Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced the 13th proposal of his 2020 State of the State agenda — convening outside experts to reexamine and rethink strategies to bring high-speed rail to New York. The Governor will task a panel of engineers to reexamine past high-speed rail plans, question and rethink every assumption and method, and recommend a new plan for how to build more reliable high-speed rail in New York.

"High speed rail is transforming economies around the world. We've been told that bringing this technology to our state is too expensive, too difficult and would take too long — that's not an acceptable attitude for New York," Gov. Cuomo said. "When we developed our plan to repair the L Train Tunnel, the team of experts we assembled questioned every assumption and brought new creativity to a seemingly intractable problem. We not only found a way to repair the tunnel without shutting down service, we are doing it ahead of schedule. This kind of outside-the-box thinking will help us determine how we could deliver high speed rail for New York."

Most of the state's population lives a short distance from the Empire Corridor, which connects the state through New York City, Albany, and Buffalo. However, these lines average 51 miles per hour, meaning it is often the slowest method available for New Yorkers.

Recommendations to implement high-speed rail across the state, which have not changed much over the last two decades, have consistently estimated that projects would take decades and be unaffordable. The team of experts will review these past studies and strategies that countries all over the world have used to build thousands of miles of high-speed rail, to ask every question and find the best way to build a high-speed system in New York.