Rail Port, Pennsylvania
The news about the Rail Port plan and the editorial support
in The Express Times is good news indeed.
And, based on personal experience, if all the parties concerned get
moving, in ten years we will still be talking about it. This based on my presence at a meeting at the
LVEDC discussing rails in the Lehigh Valley ten years ago when I was the Slate
Belt delegate to the LVEDC Planning Committee.
My sole contribution to the discussion was to raise the concern about
double-stackers along the East Coast and would tunnels be an impediment. I was assured that that was not a concern.
There are more benefits than are being discussed: Benefits to the greater region, and to local
concerns elsewhere.
It was not too long ago that a bridge reconfiguration plan
(no adverse environmental impact so we thought) to bring larger ships into
Newark, NJ hit a snag. In this case it
would be the adverse environmental impact in the Ironbound section of Newark.
Ironbound, known to the old timers as “down neck” is an
enclave in Newark that is known to be populated by a close-knit Portuguese Community
with good schools, safe streets, strong community support groups such as the
Boys and Girls Club of Ironbound, and awesome Portuguese restaurants. It is also known to be a victim of the environmental
encroachment of imponderable traffic and, dare I say it, an inexhaustible
supply of exhaust fumes.
With the rail port, the larger ships can use the port with
cargo being directly off-loaded to rails.
Community Buy-In is crucial, vital and must be addressed.
I could not have been more than eleven years old (50 years
ago) when my Dad took me on a field trip to Port Newark to watch ships being
unloaded. Trucks were lined up and
waiting for cranes to lower the containers onto their trailers. Then, it was called “containerization”. A
leap forward in shipping.
Another Conundrum.
As I have not followed the industry over the past forty
years, I can rely only on what I learned in marketing class at University.
The move from rails to trucks was abetted by Railroad
Shipping Rates. Not the cost, the
complexity.
If my professor was to be believed, we learned (his example)
there was a different rate for different parts based on weight. For example, eyeglasses:
- · The weight of the plastic frames.
- · The weight of the glass lenses
- · The weight of the brass screws
- · The weight of the leather cases
- · The weight of the cardboard boxes
If my professor was telling the truth, and the problem has
not been addressed, there will be another impediment. Then too, that could have been the problem
back in the day when a construction company learned that it was costly to ship
bricks to a construction site by rail, but if they mailed the bricks, they
would travel on the same train for a fraction of the price. (This prompted the
Post Office to place a daily limit on what could be mailed.)
However, move ahead we must.
And with all deliberate speed.
Which brings be to the story about an exchange between President Kennedy
and a groundskeeper.
When asked to plant a tree, the groundskeeper said, “But,
Mr. President, it will take 80 years for that tree to reach maturity. To which the President replied, “Then we’d
better get started quickly, hadn’t we.”
Warmest regards,
Slim
For more on Bethlehem, read: Lehigh Valley Economic Opportunities.
Copyright © 2014 Robert Asken as Slim Fairview
All rights reserved.
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