Mr. Malcolm,
I read with interest your recent "Round the Ripple" column and the news about the State Fair train not operating again this year. Your assertion that this is due to the plan by Noblesville and Fishers to abandon the tracks the train runs on for a bike rail trail failed to inform readers of the full reason. As you well know, the Hoosier Heritage Port Authority grounded the train last year - and will do so again this year - because it said the tracks were unsafe. If you believe the real reason to be other than that, then argue that.

Furthermore, your desire - and that of other train buffs - to use the tracks for a future commuter train line between Noblesville and downtown Indianapolis is based on a hope and perhaps a prayer but little else. Ever since this debate began, proponents of the train-for-commuting idea have not provided any meaningful costs for such a plan, nor any projections on how many commuters would take advantage of it or what it would cost them to ride it. Complying with federal regulations on commuter rail systems (CFR Title 49, Subtitle B, Chapter II) is and would be both cumbersome and costly, much more so than the rules that apply to rapid bus transit programs.

While you are certainly free to express your opinions in the column, your readers would be better served if the opinions were at least premised on intellectually honest claims supported by facts.
Respectfully, Brent Bahler