Full disclosure: I love traveling by train. I’m an avid Amtrak customer who relied on the regional transportation network to travel among Buffalo, Manhattan, Syracuse, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. the last few years. The train is generally cheaper than flying, more spacious than riding a bus, and I always end up with some sweet discount code that hacks off a good chunk of my bill. I’m a fan.

My one complaint: No wireless signal—until now, that is.

As recently as early this month, I was lounging comfortably on an Amtrak train to Manhattan, trying so desperately to get my Sprint wireless card to pick up a strong enough signal for me to post blog entries on Buffalo.com. I kept thinking to myself, “Why is this necessary? It’s 2011. I should be using teleportation to get from point A to point B, and I can’t even get a little Wi-Fi up in this train car? The future is turning out to be a disappointment.”

Then, this morning, Amtrak announced that 12 routes on the east coast would be getting a tech upgrade, featuring wireless Internet connection for passengers. Some of the affected trains run through Buffalo. They include:

Empire Service (New York - Albany - Buffalo)
Maple Leaf (New York - Toronto)

The Lake Shore Limited has not been added to this list yet, so keep that in mind when you’re traveling to/from Buffalo and you’re trying to get your wireless connection on. It’s also important to note that the Maple Leaf route is not completely wireless. In order to access the Internet, you need to locate cars marked with hotspot window stickers.