Off-track priorities

Regarding your March 4 article “Union Station, West Street extension start to take shape”: More than $60 million for a new train station in Raleigh is beyond comical in this type of economic climate. The train makes maybe eight stops per day in Raleigh for about $21,500 per stop. Do we make $21,500 in profit for every train stop in Raleigh? I doubt it, so this is another project that will be more efficient at putting tax dollars in the shredder.

We hear politicians complain that they do not have money for teachers, police, fire fighters, but we have $60 million for a train station. And, sadly, it won’t be $60 million after the inevitable overruns typical of government projects. If this comes in under $100 million, we should be lucky.

Projects like these tell us more than ever that our politicians are not serious about controlling spending. It is not the train station that attracts more people to ride trains, it is having nice trains. Current Amtrak trains are old and slow, and many do not have Internet. Let’s just say no to this project.

Rick Hardee, Apex