01 - Living My New Norm After Surviving Breast Cancer

From Forgotten Plans to Fresh Air: The Passenger Rail Revolution

• Sherry

Share episode

Send us a text

Come and hear my experience at the Amtrak passenger train briefing for the Lehigh Valley and important information about bringing rail service to connect Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton with New York City.

• Presentations from key rail advocates including Brett Webber, David Peter Allen, Joyce Marin, and Jim Matthews and more
• Discussion of planning, funding status, economic benefits, and environmental impacts
• Importance of community engagement in making passenger rail service a reality
• How the train would provide safer travel alternatives and take cars off the roads
• Personal stories highlighting the complex travel challenges faced without rail service
• Environmental benefits including reduced emissions and improved air quality
• Potential economic development around permanent train stations


https://youtube.com/@sylvrtea?si=e-XJdxEobRS0fuZl
https://www.instagram.com/semereuwa/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61557707021989

Speaker 1:

Hi, my name is Sherri and welcome to my podcast, silver Teen Media. Hi, my name is Sherry and welcome to my podcast, silver Team Media. This episode is about my day spent with Brett Weber for the Amtrak passenger train briefing and I am going to say there was a lot of information that was being shared and I really want to use my platform to get that information out. In case you're you're missing it or you just don't, you don't, you're not aware of it, I want to bring some awareness to it on this platform. So on that day it was a Thursday morning, I got there a little late, but I got there. I didn't realize the drive was that long and scandalous in my car, so I was like, wow, I'm not going to get there by seven, but I was there to actually sit down and enjoy all the information.

Speaker 1:

We had a lot of great presenters. We had presenters like David Peter Allen. He's a contributing editor for the Railway Age. We had Joyce Merring. She's been a part of this movement for quite some time. We have Meredith Richards. She was the chair for the Rail Passengers Association and I'm going to just read off some of their names because I didn't um, it was just, it was a lot, but I know they have more information on the website. We had Jim Matthews, the president and CEO of Rail Passengers, the. We had Joseph Barr, the director, networker, planner for the east of for the east Amtrak and we had Brian Licari, the vice president, consultant for ESI, the e-consulting solutions. We had a lot of people there and I just really wanted to give them their due because they took the time to come out. They're taking the time to help try to get this project up and running.

Speaker 1:

So they talked about a lot of stuff. They talked about the importance of this rail, this passenger train, because I mean, there's not a lot of stops, a lot of stops. I would say there are no stops. Just going into the Lehigh Valley, like Allentown, bethlehem or Easton, it's just all a roundabout way to get into there. You have to take this train and that bus, this taxi cab, walk down the block. It's just too much. So this passenger train will be very vital for people that's trying to do business in Lehigh Valley.

Speaker 1:

So let's talk about some of the things that they talked about. They talked about the planning and I'm just going. I just really want to just get the topics out there. Get the topics out there. You can go check out more information on the all aboard lehigh valley dot org and get more information there. So I just want to just just mention, just really quickly, some of the topics that were mentioned in this briefing. So what was mentioned? So let me just give you that they talked about planning, the planning of this whole thing.

Speaker 1:

They talked about funding. They talked about when, way back when, those 20 odd years ago, they said hey, we need a passenger train to run through the lehigh valley and they said, well, what's the budget? They told them the budget said no, too much money, goodbye. So they put this passenger train on the shelf and let it collect dust and Brett and the other people here, the other presenters. They started breathing life back into the possibility of bringing these passenger trains back into Lehigh Valley.

Speaker 1:

So they talked about the planning. They talked about the funding, some of the funding that they're getting and I think I'm sorry, remember I think they said they have half the funding, so they still have to work on the other half of the funding. They talked about the economic part of it, how it's going to impact people, the community, on an economic basis. They talked about the environmental part of it. What is the impact for environmental? I thought that was a great great one. They talked about taking cars off the street. So instead of five cars traveling one way to go to the same place, they'll have a passenger train that can take you there and less emissions, and you won't have all this, this pollution in the air. So now we're gonna have fresh air, we're gonna have take that nice, nice deep breath and we get some nice, fresh air, not full of emissions. So they talked about they talked about using it.

Speaker 1:

People like to use these trains to go to plays, because this passenger train is going to be leaving from Allentown, bethlehem and Easton and it's going to be going into New York. And what do we like to do in New York? There's so much to do in New York so you can go to a play, you can do some shopping, you can meet up with friends. Business is to be had. So this passenger train will provide a lot of well-needed service to people that want to do business or they want to go and see a play people that want to do business or they want to go and see a play.

Speaker 1:

So I really think it's great that we are trying to get this information out because the number one thing about this whole thing is community engagement. I had the opportunity to interview Joyce Marin about the passenger train and she did talk about the importance of community engagement and initiatives. So I'm going to run that clip right here on that train and be stress free and let somebody else worry about all the decisions of stopping going, and you can read a book or you can take a nap. I mean right, what do you think about this passenger chain train? Is it going to happen soon now? Since it's been so long, are we getting a little fatigued from talking about it?

Speaker 2:

no, we're not tired at all. We need more of the citizens to get involved, because there's not been a region in the country that restored passenger rail without a vibrant citizen group. So that's what this meeting is about is to update people, get the word out, pull them together so that we can stay connected and we're going to have continue to have meetings. I think there's a summit that brett is planning for the fall. Yeah, and just we.

Speaker 2:

As I mentioned, one of the workshop too right one of the committee members said we need to start collecting train stories. Why? You know like I had the experience of playing with trains as a small child? Because my best friend was a boy, or I loved it, or I lived in Spain in 2010 and I rode the Acela, the high speed train. That must have been fun. It was fun, and you get very addicted to very short travel times fast travel times.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I you know what, when I was my.

Speaker 1:

what I do full time is I am a, a engineering designer, so um, when I would be yeah, so when I was traveling from New York to because sometimes I have to go to the New York office and they will have that cellar or they will have the just Amtrak. But it was more money to get on that cellar, so I always got on Amtrak. But I would see, like, the difference in the time that it would get. I'm looking like, wow, that's like a 30 minute. So I never taken it, so I maybe I will, because we got a new office. Just have the experience. Okay, just once, yeah, just once.

Speaker 2:

Just once.

Speaker 1:

Okay, good. So you were in Spain and joined a seller. I didn't even know they have a seller in Spain, so you just had a good time.

Speaker 2:

In 2010,. They had it and it gets you there fast.

Speaker 1:

Okay, hmm, okay, good. So the community got to get involved, so we got to get more in community engagement, right? So that's one thing you're looking for. So is this what we're doing today trying to get more community engagement?

Speaker 2:

Yes, and then people just need to continue to educate themselves about what it takes to have vibrant communities, communities. The investment in passenger rail will benefit the cities because it will bring people downtown and people will not have to own a car, depending on where they work and where they live. They can get there by train. And so they're freed from all those costs and headaches and the insurance et cetera. And then the point I made was that train travel is infinitely safer than getting in the car.

Speaker 2:

And particularly in the trip to New York. Many people in this region will go to see a play or some other cultural event in New York and when you come back you're tired. It's not safe to be that tired. What if you could fall asleep and just? It will benefit the region so many ways, and of course that's from my experience working in commercial real estate lending. I saw as soon as that transportation, the investment in public transportation, especially trains, because you can put a bus in but you can always move the stop. But if you put a train stop in, the investment is so great that the real estate investors know that it's not going to be moved away, and so they really. It's a thing that would do a lot toward economic development for the region, especially for the cities.

Speaker 1:

I mean, how would that with the train we get this passenger train? Would that impact the environment? Would that be a? Because I know you and I are talking about how we both love ourselves yeah, yeah so.

Speaker 2:

So one of the advantages of the train is is especially if it's electrified. Okay, and many are. In the west, it's very common that the trains are electric, then there are no emissions, so you get a lot of cars off the road and then you are not creating any emissions.

Speaker 2:

Now that's going to improve the air quality, the air quality in this region. Because it's a valley and because we do have so much car and truck traffic, the air quality is not great. So that would be a significant thing we could do to cut down on greenhouse gases. But just, I have a friend who has asthma and when they have those ozone red days she lives in allentown she says I can't breathe. But she comes to where I live out in the country then she's like I got a lot of trees, yes, a lot of oxygen, and it's cleaning.

Speaker 2:

you know there's less traffic, so people are literally feeling it, and especially urban children in the urban school districts. They have much higher rates of asthma in the school district and so it's little vulnerable children that are feeling the worst aspect of our poor air quality in this region.

Speaker 1:

And I think, like you said, it will be environmentally better for us. Also will it be better for the community as far as because when I was talking to interview and Brett we talked about will it be expensive. I mean, how would somebody want to get on this train?

Speaker 2:

Because the cost is determined by the entity who becomes the sponsoring entity. So they obviously want it to be expensive enough to pay for the operating costs, but then it can't be too expensive that nobody wants it. So we don't know right now what it's going to cost, but they will make that rate related to the market for how many people are going to ride it. Okay?

Speaker 1:

So what did you think about that? Joyce has been a part of this movement for a very, very long time and she has a lot of experience and she really talked about how this is important. She even talked about something you don't really think about. So people are driving and they're tired, and they had a long day, and how dangerous that is to be driving and being tired. So why not have a passenger train taking you from the Lehigh Valley to New York or New York back to the Lehigh Valley? I mean mean that sounds by itself is a lifesaver. I want to move on to.

Speaker 1:

We had another presenter, david Peter Allen. He talked about why he could not make it to this briefing, because he said that he would have to go through five buses three and I'm just exaggerating and embellishing, but it is all very, very, very real. He had to do a lot just to get to the lehigh valley just for this briefing. So he had to call in on zoom and he talked about it. I I'm not like, I'm not gonna even tell you what david had to go through. I'm gonna let you hear what he would have to go through or would have had to go through if he would have taken the train in to join this briefing in person, so take a listen to this clip.

Speaker 2:

I think it would be great. I can tell you what I have to go through personally, as a non-lobos living in New Jersey, to visit your area. I have to be on a Morrison-Essex line train at 6.13 am from South Orange where I live. That gets me to Hackettstown if it's on time, about 7.25, or, excuse me, about 735 or 740. From there I have a two-mile walk. I'm in pretty good shape so I can do it in 40 minutes To a mobile store on Mountain Avenue where I can get a van sponsored by Warren County.

Speaker 2:

This is community transportation to the town of Washington where I can transfer to another bank they sponsor. That goes from Washington to Phillipsburg. It drops me in downtown Phillipsburg five minutes and ten and then comes the easy part I can walk over the bridge and I am on North Hampton Street in Easton. I must leave North Hampton Street by about three o'clock, whatever else I do in your area, so I can get the last shuttle from Phillipsburg that will eventually get you to Hackettstown where I will have a two-hour wait for a train to take me home. That's how I get to your area. I could not have gotten to this conference to present live without staying in a hotel the night before.

Speaker 1:

Now you're certainly not going to get motorists to make a trip like that as a discretionary trip. So what do you think? I know I have been in situations where I missed the connecting train because one it wasn't a direct. There's not a direct. Ok, let me back that up. I have missed the connecting train because the train that I was on trying to get to the connecting train was late. So now I was missing the train only by one or two minutes and I had to sit and wait about an hour for the next train. Now, if that train is late, I ain't happy. Let me tell you right, I'm gonna tell you right now.

Speaker 1:

But I did prepare by bringing either work I would go over some work drawings that I had to go over or I would listen to a good book, because I mean, I love Audible Audible, make the time go by fast so that that that was when I also I would read. There was always some reading to to be had, because there's so many authors out there, just so many good books to listen to, or there's so many good books to listen to or read. So I was always prepared for anything to happen because I had things that would consume my time for hours on end, so I would not be noticing. So I would not notice that I am pissed off about I'm having to sit here for an hour, ok. So, david, kudos to you for really bringing that to our attention, because it is something that we need to know. This is something that that will bring attention to to the community and and to whoever the powers to be that will say, hey, we need to get this, the funding, so we can get this train out there for these people. They want to go places, they want to travel, they want to have a scenic route from ABE to New York, from New York to ABE. They want to do business, they want to shop, they want to see their families. So I really, really like what they're doing be, they want to do business, they want to shop, they want to see their families. So I really, really like what they're doing. So I will use my platform to get this information out. I hope to bring brett back on so we can talk about what is next for that passenger train. So, all aboard, everybody, the train is coming.

Speaker 1:

So until my next episode, you know what I always say, because this podcast is about living your new norm after surviving breast cancer, and my new norm is everything. It is gardening, it is getting the word out about this passenger train, but most importantly it's about breast cancer awareness and you can be on that train after going through all of your breast cancer and radiation and being on that train stress-free, enjoying the view and taking in life. You know what I always say early detection is the best protection. So please, get your annual mammograms done. If you haven't gotten it done, what are you waiting for? Go out there and get it done, make that appointment. If you had it done, put it on your calendar to schedule it for next year. So until then, enjoy a nice cup of tea.