Trains to Ithaca

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Once upon a time, passenger trains ran between Ithaca and New York City. For example, in a Cornell Daily Sun advertisement on on September 12, 1924, the Lehigh Valley Railroad promoted its Black Diamond train service between Ithaca and Penn Station in New York City. The fare was $13.40 round trip ($6.70 each way). The overnight trip took a little over 8 hours to New York and 7 1/2 hours back to Ithaca. More than 80 years later, there is no passenger train service to Ithaca. So much for progress.

The only option now - and it isn't that bad if you don't mind driving - is the Amtrak train service to Syracuse. It's about a 1 1/2 hour car ride from Ithaca to the William F. Walsh Regional Transportation Center in Syracuse (right across from the Carousel Mall). From there, you'll find regularly scheduled trains to New York City. While Syracuse isn't all that convenient, a positive is that you can park your car in the train station lot for a very small daily cost.

If you can't get to Syracuse by car, you can take the Ithaca Airline Limousine to either the Syracuse train station or the Syracuse airport.