1.   An official with Kansas City Southern Railway said that although the company was aware of the interest in commuter rail, there had not been a formal presentation.

2.   A ferry may soon run from the Upper East Side to Wall Street, and the state is studying whether to extend commuter rail lines to downtown.

3.   But North Carolina remains ahead of those states in providing commuter rail service.

4.   Commuter rail will be critical there.

5.   Farthest along, though, is a proposal for commuter rail, rush-hour trains from suburb to city along existing freight tracks, between Athens and Atlanta.

6.   It also provides commuter rail service under contracts with transit authorities such as the MBTA.

7.   It can, and does, use earnings from the airports to support money-losers like the PATH commuter rail between the city and New Jersey.

8.   It will include light rail, commuter rail, regular bus routes and dedicated busways on highways.

9.   Several rail experts said that they did not see how the commuter rails would not be affected.

10.   That could lead to integrating commuter rail, buses and possibly light rail into a coherent regional public transit system.