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The Surface Transportation Board has just committed political suicide

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The Surface Transportation Board has just committed political suicide
Posted by CandOforprogress2 on Friday, March 25, 2016 6:12 PM

The STB is bringing back the days of being a strong regulator of the days when the ICC was the big boss

http://www.stb.dot.gov/decisions/readingroom.nsf/WebDecisionID/45108?OpenDocument

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Posted by mudchicken on Saturday, March 26, 2016 5:02 PM
Mudchicken Nothing is worth taking the risk of losing a life over. Come home tonight in the same condition that you left home this morning in. Safety begins with ME.... cinscocom-west
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Posted by MidlandMike on Saturday, March 26, 2016 10:41 PM

The STB is proposing to bring a handful of commodities under potential rate review by allowing those shippers to ask for hearings.  They are recalling these commodities which the had earlier exempted.  The threads headline is way overstated.  Additionally the politics is more with shippers.

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Posted by CandOforprogress2 on Saturday, March 26, 2016 11:37 PM

TOFC and COFC aka Intermodal would be included in this expansion. Intermodal was never included because it was a small part of shipments under ICC in the 1980s. They never envisoned unit stack trains of 150 cars allowing railroads to dominate certain corridors. Railroads can also enter into contracts that allow big buisneses in Intermodal lanes that put small buisnesses at a disavantage.

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Posted by schlimm on Sunday, March 27, 2016 7:32 AM

MidlandMike
The threads headline is way overstated.

Some of the members are seeing an all-too-familiar pattern in the new member's posts.

C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan

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Posted by Norm48327 on Sunday, March 27, 2016 9:09 AM

schlimm

 

 
MidlandMike
The threads headline is way overstated.

 

Some of the members are seeing an all-too-familiar pattern in the new member's posts.

 

Agreed.

Norm


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Posted by SD70M-2Dude on Sunday, March 27, 2016 9:03 PM

Norm48327
schlimm
MidlandMike
The threads headline is way overstated.

Some of the members are seeing an all-too-familiar pattern in the new member's posts.

Agreed.

And his name is Ohio-related.  I wonder how long it'll be this time before he goes out of control...

Greetings from Alberta

-an Articulate Malcontent

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Posted by samfp1943 on Monday, March 28, 2016 12:29 PM

mudchicken

 A case of Regulatory Ineptness, or a lawyer employment act(?)  It would seem that the reaction is surely, going to be in a Courtroom; where it will be a case of "My lawyer(s) will whip you lawyer(s)"  The decision will not be anytime soon IMHO. Whistling

 

 


 

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Posted by schlimm on Monday, March 28, 2016 1:05 PM

SD70M-2Dude

 

 
Norm48327
schlimm
MidlandMike
The threads headline is way overstated.

Some of the members are seeing an all-too-familiar pattern in the new member's posts.

Agreed.

 

 

And his name is Ohio-related.  I wonder how long it'll be this time before he goes out of control...

 

If he is who we all suspect, I think there is a pretty high correlation of that event with ounces of alcohol consumed.

C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan

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Posted by Paul_D_North_Jr on Wednesday, March 30, 2016 1:48 PM

MidlandMike
The STB is proposing to bring a handful of commodities under potential rate review by allowing those shippers to ask for hearings.  They are recalling these commodities which the had earlier exempted.  The threads headline is way overstated.  Additionally the politics is more with shippers.

"+1"  From the linked notice, this proposed change would involve only:

"(1) crushed or broken stone or rip rap; (2) hydraulic cement; and (3) coke produced from coal, primary iron or steel products, and iron or steel scrap, wastes or tailings." 

Doesn't seem like a big deal to me - but then, I don't deal in or transport any of those.

- Paul North. 

"This Fascinating Railroad Business" (title of 1943 book by Robert Selph Henry of the AAR)
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Posted by CandOforprogress2 on Wednesday, March 30, 2016 2:19 PM

It does to me I along with many of my neighbors collect scrap metal for extra income. We could either take to the local scrap yard or drive 50 miles to the hub yard with a rail siding and get a couple more bucks

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Posted by BOB WITHORN on Tuesday, April 5, 2016 10:10 AM

You're either collecting a lot of scrap or you're literally getting just a couple bucks, Scrap prices are in the tank, it almost costs more in gas than the scrap is worth, unless you're driving something that gets 50 or 60 mpg. So you really need to be bored stiff to spend much time collecting scrap now which does make the this no big deal to almost everyone.

Bob

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Posted by CandOforprogress2 on Tuesday, April 5, 2016 11:24 AM

Running a local scrap yard is a tough buisness and having railroad service would give you more value for the buck rather then transloading and having a fleet of trucks to take to the scrap hub. Besides those scrap metal trucks leak sharp debris all over my neighborhood

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Posted by BOB WITHORN on Tuesday, April 5, 2016 3:36 PM

Having a rail siding does not in its self give you a better deal. If the end buyer is a mill within a couple hundred miles it's more profitable to truck it. Best friend's family is a scrap dealer - that quit rail decades ago and truck scrap to a mill in Ohio and one in NW Indiana. Looks like you should invest in a magnet. Anyway, the STB isn't going anywhere over any of this.

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