Most people have no idea how significant this business of building island platform is to enhancing schedule reliability and avoiding congestion. This is really great news. I wish NY State would get around to putting up platform on all tracks in Empire West. There are endless hours spent dicking around trying to get the train to the one track that has a platform on it.
Well, NY hasn't been doin' much at all, you know.
* Schenectady dates from the NY Central's "rip our stations out" period, but is thankfully being rebuilt as we speak.
* Amsterdam dates from Conrail's "rip our stations out" period. If they ever bother to build a real station I'm sure they will build platforms on both tracks... proper platforms would be nice, too.
* Utica still has tracks at all platforms as it always has. Low-level, which plans have been trying to address.
* Rome actually has an island platform.
* Syracuse was built in the 1990s to replace one of the "not a station" stations from the "rip our stations out" period, and it's *supposed* to be an island platform of sorts, but that has its own whole story. (Sigh.) Anyway it should be straightforward to extend the tunnel under the tracks and put platforms on the far side, it just wasn't done.
* Rochester (from the "rip our stations out" period) is currently being replaced with new island platform on passenger tracks. Yay.
* Buffalo-Depew dates from the "rip our stations out" period of the NY Central, and hasn't really been touched since then.
* Buffalo-Exchange St. again dates from the "rip our stations out" period of the NY Central, even though it was fully closed; it was reopened with minimal expenditure.
* Niagara Falls, *again* from the "rip our stations out" period, is being replaced... with a one-platform station, but it's on a single-track line at this point, and at least it'll be on a section of track with no freight trains.
New York suffered greatly from the decision of the NY Central, and subsequently Conrail (with the collaboration of the Nelson Rockefeller administration) to destroy all of its stations, and specifically to destroy all the grade-separated overpasses which led to the far platforms. Utica was really the only survivor. Buffalo stands but the station was relocated entirely to the freight yard and the overpass was demolished; Syracuse stands but the station was relocated to the freight yard and the tracks were demolished.
Due to this destruction, for New York it really is a matter of building stations practically from scratch. And due to the fairly high demand, they have to be pretty solid stations, none of these Amsterdam-style whistlestops. And the state government mostly hasn't been willing to spend the money. :-(
But at least we're getting Schenectady, Rochester, and Niagara Falls. That leaves Buffalo-Depew, Buffalo-Exchange, Amsterdam, and upgrades to Syracuse and Utica. There seems to be solid political support for Buffalo-Exchange and Utica upgrades, and enough support for Syracuse upgrades; I don't know about Amsterdam or Depew, but I think there is a chance of getting this stuff done.