Daily grind from Albany to Manhattan

By Justin Rocket Silverman, amNewYork Staff Writer
More stories | jsilverman@am-ny.com

January 14, 2008

Extreme Commuter AnneMarie Bologna, 25, takes a six-hour round trip train ride between Albany and Manhattan every weekday. (Justin Rocket Silverman, amNewYork)

Close to one million passengers ride Amtrak's Empire Service between Albany and Manhattan every year. But only a fraction do it five days a week, round-trip, as part of their daily commute.

"It's a little group I hang out with on the train," said AnneMarie Bologna, 25, of the Albany-Manhattan commuters she travels with daily.

"We all sit in the same seats every day," said Bologna, an Albany resident who works at an apparel company in midtown Manhattan. "We have a holiday party and a summer party on the train where people bring wine and we order catered food."

For the past seven months, this Extreme Commuter rises each weekday morning at 5 in order to catch a 6:20 a.m. train. Arriving at Penn Station around 9:15 a.m., it's at least a mercifully short walk to her office on 34th and Madison.

Bologna used to live in the city, but says she found herself missing the slower pace of life to be found in Albany. She also wanted to be closer to her family, which lives upstate.

A monthly Amtrak pass costs her about $800, almost enough to pay rent on a shared apartment in Manhattan. But she says that the expense and six hours a day she spends on the train are worth it to be closer to the more rural lifestyle she prefers. She makes good use of her commute time, catching up on sleep in the mornings and getting to know her fellow passengers on the ride home.

With the possibility of Amtrak workers going on strike Jan. 30 -- shutting down the Empire Service trains as well as all of Penn Station -- Bologna has already made contingency plans. She says she will just stay home until the strike is over.

Bologna said she sympathizes with the workers' demands for more pay, although she does sometimes wish the trains would be run better. "I have no other option besides Amtrak, so I guess I shouldn't complain about it too much," Bologna said.

Know someone with a complicated or treacherously long commute? Send suggestions about the next Extreme Commuter to jsilverman@am-ny.com.

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