The Lehigh Valley Committee to Talk About Trains Needs to Face Reality; It Is Time to Put Away Childish Things

— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs

It is time to stop pretending, it is time to stop indulging in magical thinking.

The Lehigh Valley Committee to Talk About Trains was back at it Wednesday.

It doesn’t have money to restore rail service, and although the committee cites a 14-step process toward bringing passenger trains back, it doesn’t have a plan either.

The study is more of a snap analysis than a plan. Turning it into reality would require threading about a million needles while standing on one foot on ice in the dark.

What the Committee to Talk About Trains has is a wish list that would require the agreement of a few dozen governments and regulators, the use of private train tracks and a billion dollars or so to start, plus millions in annual subsidies. The so-called study omitted stations, costs of stations, an analysis of demand and just about everything else.

It may happen someday, but the latest Committee to Talk About Trains is not going to get it done.

The latest boondoggle got off to a bad start in March with a presentation that had few details but appealed to magical thinking. Even advocates conceded it would be a 10- to 12-year process, and since then, an estimate of 15 years was made. Here’s the original statement.

The Committee to Talk About Trains — my name for it, it is actually part of the Lehigh Valley Transit Study, which is an affiliate of the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission — got a pledge of $225,000 from Lehigh County to talk about trains.

I’m glad to say that Northampton County, where I live, will not match that money. County Executive Lamont G. McClure did not include nearly a quarter-million dollars to talk about trains in his budget proposal, and I don’t expect County Council to try to throw money away on talking about trains.

Back in March, the analysis discussed having trains to Reading, Philadelphia and New York.

Right away, the analysis lost credibility by including Reading.

Absolute nonsense. A train to Reading would have zero value, and a train to Philadelphia, for geographic reasons, would not serve the Lehigh Valley well. I’ve written about that before relying on my own experience as a commuter and frequent train rider.

I didn’t just study the issue, I lived it. So there.

The only train that makes sense would go to New York City, the financial capital of the world, a cultural center, and a city served well by subways and buses once visitors arrive. Most people go to Manhattan, from Central Park downtown to the Financial District, a compact area with lots of subways.

As of Wednesday, the Committee to Talk About Trains has not secured funding for more studies.

Thanks again to Northampton County.

Rather than let the whole thing drop, there was talk of securing other funding. More taxpayers’ dollars to pay people to talk.

Not on my dime. Just say no.

Perhaps a little Biblical wisdom is in order:

“When I was a child I spoke, thought and reasoned like a child. But now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things.” — Apostle Paul

It is indeed time to put away childish things.