Enough Lehigh Valley train nonsense; don’t waste more money until a billion-dollar check shows up

I had the good luck to attend the April presentation of a study (sort of) of potential Lehigh Valley train routes to New York, Philadelphia and Reading (Reading? Why?)

The event was absurd but entertaining.

There was a great deal of nonsense thrown about. Train buffs want it to be a bullet train, people who might to see the Lion King once per year think “it would be nice” to have a train to New York, and others who have taken “tea trains” in Europe may think somebody in a quaint outfit will serve beverages.

One person wanted to discuss how to prepare for the development that would come with the train in about 12 years. Seriously. This is what goes on at these things. People who are paid to talk, talk.

There is no need for a train to Reading. If there is to be a train, it has to go to New York. The Big Apple is the capital of the world, like it or not.

The presentation said a train to Manhattan would take about 2.5 hours. And that’s the end of the story. No commuter is going to spend an extra hour getting to New York so they can sit on a train.

Imagine getting to the train (no stations were proposed or identified) getting to Penn Station New York, and then getting to work. That could be 3.5 hours easily, much longer than most Big Apple commuters spend now.

So commuters, whose fares would carry the service, woudn’t use it.

I commuted to New York City for years, and I took every route short of bicycling. Take the bus, drive all the way in (I used to leave around 4 a.m.) or drive to a station in New Jersey (Raritan, Secaucus) and take the train from there. When I go in now, usually on weekends, I park at Secaucus Junction and take NJTransit trains from there.

On weekdays, buses are the best option. Yes, sometimes there’s traffic, but anybody who doesn’t think trains don’t stop sometimes (often to let Amtrak through) hasn’t ridden a train.

Now there is a move to spend another $450,000 on more studies.

Give it up. The train idea is nonsense for many reasons I’ll get into later (no stations, asking Norfolk Southern and others to share tracks, and more) but the big thing is money.

If somebody shows up with a check for $1 billion and guaranteed subsidies of millions annually, go for it.

Otherwise, these train people are just blowin’ smoke.