Run a shortcut with a batch file

The help for start contains this tidbit:

START ["title"] [/D path] [/I] [/MIN] [/MAX] [/SEPARATE | /SHARED]
      [/LOW | /NORMAL | /HIGH | /REALTIME | /ABOVENORMAL | /BELOWNORMAL]
      [/NODE <NUMA node>] [/AFFINITY <hex affinity mask>] [/WAIT] [/B]
      [command/program] [parameters]

    "title"     Title to display in window title bar.

In other words the first quoted string will be used for the title. To launch something with quotes, you need to provide a quoted string before it, like this:

start "" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\user1.lnk"

Since it’s not a program with a console window, the contents don’t matter, they won’t be used.