Upstate lawmakers, including Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, D-Fairport, and Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo, gathered in Syracuse on Monday to press their case for $4.7 billion in federal stimulus money to build a high-speed rail link from Albany to Buffalo.

About $3.2 billion would be used to build a dedicated high-speed third track along the rail route. The rest would be used for station, bridge and equipment improvements. The state applied for the funding earlier this year.

“What we envision,” Slaughter said, “is a network that starts by connecting Buffalo to Albany and expands to connect our state to Toronto through Niagara Falls, and Montreal to Albany, creating a large economic development center and strengthening our international trade. We see a network that links to Chicago to the west and Boston, Baltimore and Washington to the east.”

The event introduced the new High Speed Rail New York Coalition, comprising mayors, chambers of commerce and economic development agencies across the state. It also unveiled a High Speed Rail Regional Impact Statement, which said that high-speed rail would bring major improvements to the upstate economy.

The coalition noted that 80 percent of the state’s residents live within 30 miles of the Empire Corridor, the rail right of way from Buffalo to Albany to New York City.

The impact statement estimated that, if funding is approved, construction along the Empire Corridor would create 247,825 jobs, starting next spring and ending in 2018. An announcement on the funding is expected early next year.