The Relentless Pursuit For LV Rail Passenger Service

Unbelievable! Here we go again
This will be my 4th posting on this.
Last July I said, "Great googly moogly, it's easier trying to kill a zombie!"

Aug 28 2014 - Lou Gombocz, Jr. | WFMZ-- "Bethlehem City Council Community Development Committee members Wednesday evening unanimously passed a motion to recommend to city council to enact legislation for the creation of a railway authority in the Lehigh Valley... Callahan, Karen Dolan, and Adam Waldron gave their approval for the formation of the Suburban Metropolitan Agency for Rail Transit (SMART) proposed and currently spearheaded by Kirk Raup of Bethlehem."

Before I comment further here's a brief collection of past articles regarding this.March 26, 2010- Dan Hartzell | The Morning Call-- "Lehigh Valley-to-New York City rail line would cost almost $700 million, study finds... Trains to New York, though popular in the public imagination, would cost nearly $15 million per year to operate, 22 percent of which would be covered by passenger fares, according to the study commissioned by Lehigh and Northampton counties and the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp."

June 07, 2010 - Douglas B. Brill| The Express-Times-- " Easton Mayor Sal Panto Jr. says rail study 'has holes,' plans own task force... A regional transportation study released in April said passenger rail from High Bridge to Allentown would cost $659 million to build and might run an $11.7 million annual deficit."

Jul 18 2013- Randy Kraft | WFMZ.com -- "ALLENTOWN, Pa. - In a surprise move, council unanimously voted to support feasibility and marketing studies on rail service in the Lehigh Valley and to request state and/or federal funding to pay for such studies."
Proponents have been shopping this around since 2008 to anyone who'd listen. Every time I think I heard that last of it, up it pops again. I'm not going to go into a long spiel. Instead, if anyone's truly interested they can check out my prior posts' links below. However I will mention the points I made in them.* Between Bieber & Trans-Bridge there are about 24 buses shuttling back and forth to New York daily.
      No way in hell 24 trains will.

* Bus companies alrady have a couple hundred spaces of free parking for cars.
      None of the proposed train terminals do.

* Beiber bus on average takes about 1 1/3 hours with one stop between Allentown & NYC. They both go to the port authority. One block from Times Square.
     Rail passengers would have to get off in High Bridge, NJ (at a closed terminal). Wait outside in all kinds of weather. Where hopefully there would be a train waiting. Then have to disembark again to catch a 3rd train for the final leg of their journey into NYC. After arriving at the train station passengers would then have to take a subway train from there if someone's destination were Times Square. I'm 100% this could not be done in the same amount of time as taking current buses.

* We're talking about spending million$ of taxpayers dollar$.
     Whereas it doesn't cost taxpayer$ one thin dime for what is already available.

This makes about much sense as bringing back canal barges for anything other then a expensive tourist attraction. Anyone who wants to read in greater detail how I arrived at my conclusions can click on the following links.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Rail Transportation Study (Mine) II

Friday, July 19, 2013
Rail Feasibility Study HERE WE GO AGAIN!!

Saturday, January 18, 2014
Passenger Rail Doesn't Make Financial Sense