Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
I think a few people appropriately understood my original post and a few jumped to a conclusion based on the subject line. If you go back and read my original postIn my original post at the top of the thread, I mentioned that I spend time educating my new colleagues about the fact the RR's are not dying, contrary to what many people would believe. I subscribe to the AAR stats publications and watch the freight gradually growing all of the time. I also mentioned above that the RR's have retrenched to a more viable core-route network. I think its a strategy that has paid significant dividends for them. To that end, thank God for intermodal being their outreach tool. I guess in selecting the subject line for this post, I was trying to employ an old journalism trick to get interest in the topic: Make the headline sensational and they'll read it. However, I'm continually dismayed and frustrated with perception by the general public and the shipping public about the rail industry. Too commonly, either the public has no data from which to form an opinion, or their opinion is negative. I rely on RR's for not only a hobby, but also for my livelihood. I'm in sort of an intermediary function and there are a huge lot of shippers who are VERY, VERY skeptical of RR's and the railroads, as an instituion have done virtually nothing to show that they're viable. I know that there are a lot of hard working men and women who give it their all every day to try to make it work... and often do. Many larger, sophisticated shippers accept rail transit as a price-buy and as a simple economic reality. Many would rather truck it, if the economics were more favorable. Trade offs in everything I guess - service, speed and reliability vs. price. At times, the RR's can often be their own worst enemy. Try getting a box car rate that internlines between two RR's... or God forbid, crosses an international border. The web application, of course, can't provide this rate. There's no actual number to call to speak to a live person. So you fish around the organization. Eventually you stumble on the right person but seldom if ever, in fact thus far, never actually find them at their desk, answering their phone. So you wait and wait and wait for a reply. I've been working on one rate for two weeks and now, some 15 calls later, I'm still waiting for part of the response. The preliminary numbers that I have would say this will be a greater than $2M revenue opportunity, but I can't get a reply phone call. What would you say about a carrier that consistantly provides service at 30-60% on time..... but of course, expects to be 100% of the rate, 100% of the time? There was a time when the RR's published schedules for more than propaganda sake. They actually meant something. There are still 2 big US carriers who get it, but there are 2 who are soooo far out of the game, its just sad. Trains magazine columnists would say that market economics will sort this out. Not when the network has been so thoroughly consolidated that there isn't a 2nd choice of RR's for several hundred miles. Maybe they are dying and we just can't all smell the decay just yet. [xx(]
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag