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Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) recently wrote a letter to New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) Acting Commissioner Stanley Gee and CSX Corp. Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Ward urging them to come to an agreement on how to spend the $151 million New York is receiving through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to develop high-speed rail.

The two parties have yet to come to an agreement on the best way to deploy funding and develop specifications for any new high-speed rail line. Current plans call for building a second track in the Capitol region and a third track that would run through the Rochester-Finger Lakes region, eventually extending throughout the entire corridor.

“With unemployment hovering near 10 percent, we can’t allow internal disputes to put at risk over $100 million that will go directly to economic development and putting people to work today building the faster transportation system of the future,” Schumer said in the letter.

NYSDOT is responsible for working with CSX , which owns the right of way for the Empire Corridor, to devise high-speed rail strategy. The parties differ on train speeds and how far the dedicated passenger track will be positioned from a freight line, according to Schumer.