ALBANY – Dormant plans for a high-speed train that would almost halve travel time between New York City and Albany were revived yesterday as the majority leader of the Senate, Joseph Bruno, put the considerable power of his office behind the potentially multi-billion-dollar project and named a task force to figure out how it could be built.

Speaking at an afternoon press conference in the new Amtrak train station across the Hudson River from the state Capitol in his Rensselaer district, Mr. Bruno, a Republican, touted the proposed 110-mph trains by saying they would boost the upstate economy, reduce travel time, and make New York a national transportation innovator.

A number of other states, including California and Florida, are studying the possibility of building in-state, high-speed trains, but none has yet made it to the construction phase. Mr. Bruno said uncertainty about the future of federal subsidies for Amtrak could free up money to build new rail tracks that would be necessary to carry the high-speed trains.

A previous $185 million plan by Governor Pataki to shorten travel time between New York City and Albany fell apart last year when Amtrak failed to make necessary improvements to existing tracks. The state is suing the carrier in federal court over the project, while three diesel trains that had been rebuilt for higher speeds sit in storage in Delaware.

A group of state lawmakers – including a former lieutenant governor under Mario Cuomo, Stanley Lundine – first proposed high-speed train service between New York City and Buffalo 13 years ago. That proposal, largely the conception of western lawmakers who had to commute – in some cases – as much as seven hours to Albany, went nowhere.

With the state’s second-most powerful Republican behind a similar proposal, prospects for the faster trains have improved. A Democratic assemblyman from Buffalo who is chairman of the Assembly Task Force on High Speed Rail, Sam Hoyt, said Mr. Bruno’s support is significant. But he said a governor’s backing would be needed to make the idea a reality. Mr. Hoyt also said the cost of building more than 500 miles of new tracks would be enormous.

“The one reason I would cite that this now has a better chance than ever is that it’s not being proposed by a freshman Republican assemblyman from Batavia,” Mr. Hoyt said. “It’s being proposed by the majority leader of the state Senate, who is the second most powerful Republican in New York State. That gives it immediate credibility and, to a certain degree, legs.”

So far, Mr. Bruno’s commitment involves the $5 million he secured earlier this year from the state budget for a feasibility study. With that money, he established a task force, to be led by John Egan, a former commissioner of the state’s Office of General Services who spearheaded Mr. Bruno’s plan to redevelop the Albany International Airport in 1999. Mr. Egan’s presence on the board suggested to many that Mr. Bruno means business.

A new high-speed train that could reduce time from Albany to New York City to one hour from two hours would require a new, electrified track, according to Mr. Hoyt. The track could not be shared with existing freight-carrying lines and would probably cost between $10 million and $20 million per mile of new track, or tens of billions of dollars overall.

“Notwithstanding the power of Joe Bruno and a little-old Assemblyman Sam Hoyt from podunk Buffalo,” Mr. Hoyt said, “there’s got to be complete buy-in from the executive and complete buy-in from the public. What’s the likelihood this will happen? I’m cautiously optimistic. A public works project of this magnitude would be tough, but maybe the stars would line up and we could make this thing happen.”