Mega Mergers and corridor capacity

[Anonymous]

BUNK!! The mergers serve only to allow the RR's to shave jobs, and restrict commerce, via reduced competition and price fixing.

The practice serves neither the public nor railroad employees well, only the stockholders whom are , at best, non contributory burdens upon the well being of the railroads economics.

Bad as they might have been, the "robber barrons" of old at least worked for their pay, instead of sitting on their keisters whining about dividend distributions.

And now, with all this "slacker" talk about how "the railroad corridors are nearing capacity" etc looking to the taxpayer to fund a solution....POPPYCOCK!! Wake the heck up!! look at some of the maps published in the mag these past few months.

The Pennsy and Erie Lackawanna MAINLINES from east coast to Chicago, and the Milwaukee Transcon closed through CONSOLIDATION AND THE DESIRE TO NOT HAVE TO BURDEN THE EQUITY PARTNERS WITH THE EXPENSE OF MAINTENANCE of way and *this* becomes a taxpayer burden to have to sort out?

Sorry, don't think so!!

Evidently those lush land grants are now all liquidated, so some new handout in the name of "patriotic enterprise" is the only solution?

Too bad our government is so gullible as to lap up this garbage. I remember when industry was rewarded for creating jobs, not eliminating them.

[Anonymous]

And its about the stock!
Don

[Anonymous]

WELL PUT!! Congress, Please dont take any of MY MONEY to fund a rebuilding program that was caused by the rails poor planning. If anyone would have had the sense to at LEAST railbank these lines ( EL, MILW RD. etc) we would have been much better off as a country. These megamergers are a real burden on the free enterprise sytem as a whole, they do not promote better service or the creation of jobs. What they do accomplish is to simply eliminate competition and fatten the lucrative salaries of rail executives/stock pushers.

[Anonymous]

Rick

You do not remember a time when the railroad industry was rewarded by the US Givernment for performance!

[Anonymous]

Now it is TRUCKING..

[Anonymous]

Their performance can only after public investment of untold 100s of Billions of dollars. It you be lovely if Amtrak became a public works project to upgrade rail infrastructure but it wont happen.

[jsanchez]

In the Northeast CSX, Norfolk Southern, and the state goverments, are having to deal with the results of Conrail ripping out way to many sidings, yards, and routes. Conrail did its best to shrink the business and now we are paying for the results.
Many highways are parking lots partially to the over reliance of trucks, the money the taxpayers have to fork out just to maintain the existing highways keeps going up.
Some lines and yards have been reopened recently, but not without great expense or having to deal with Nimbys. I think it should have been mandatory for Conrail to railbank lines instead of abandoning them. Many communties had to fight to keep lines, Meadville Pa is a prime example. Conrail wanted to close this line without even giving a shortline a chance to buy it.(many businesses rely on this line and business has greatly expanded) Another example is the ripped up Lackawanna cut-off, which the state of New Jersey is paying 10's of millions to purchase and rebuild, my point being this should have never been ripped up in the first place. The government is to blame just as much as the class 1's are for not having the vision or proper planing for future transportation needs. As much as we like highways they are very inefficient and expensive to maintain, operate and build compared to railroads, this economic reality is becoming clearer to many state and local governments, to bad we've let so much of our rail system disapear.

[Anonymous]

I would like to counter that "vision" was NOT the problem.


No more than VISION is the problem causing the long lines in banks, in the wake of consolidation.


Customer conveniance has taken such a distant backseat to performance ratio's is a crying shame.

I blame the MBA's and the "sit on keister" stockholders they work for

[Anonymous]

why thank you!! =)

Let me be upfront, and establi***hat I am a railfan second and a weary tax payer first.

I just am sick of every problem being portrayed as "a victim" whom only can be rescued with taxpayer money.

The stage is invariably always set with "clapping seal" citizens cast into the role of "flag waving patriots", by some vested interest and a block of political weasels whom embrace a second agenda.....and I'm getting sick and tired of it.

[jsanchez]

I think thats a good point also,("Customer conveniance has taken such a distant backseat to performance ratio's is a crying shame").
Whats funny is that if you go out of your way to do extra for the customers, you can make a heck of a lot more money and truly grow your business, this is one reason shortlines prosper where the class ones whither...Honda keeps gaining market share at Ford/ Gm's expense, Dell sells more PC's than Packard Bell(who used to be #1, but had dreadful customer service).....

[wabash1]

what it all comes down to is why build it or rebuild it with your money when you can use others. thats the corprate way. and not repay it looks good on the bottom line.

[Anonymous]

Lapping it up? Are you sure you've got your flow direction right here?
John Bradley

[Anonymous]

Seems like it is the RR's who are making the hoo-haa for subsidies eveytime I turn around...FHA trustfund raiding type stuff, such as the "pitch" that "if FA $$$ is spent to upgrade the RR's infastructure, (giving ther RR's revenue generating 'plant' taxpayer subsididy), then the "highways,public transit, rushhour commutes" etc all will be so much better for everyone, ~well worth the inconsequential handout of tax revenue that it will require, despite the seeming "windfall" to the ever predatory steelwheel bandits. Poor victims...


And several of the ed's in Trains mag have been chanting the "corridors are already choking at near capacity, but the RR's lack sufficient capital to even think of paying their own way " fanfare, trying to put the interests of corporate behemoths before us as though they were poor starving orphans or something. Our duty to "the Greater common Good" etc even though the pot is mighty bare in the private citizens own budgets, thanks to ENRON & pals with their collusion created electric emergencies, high gasoline prices, the absurd malicious hubris of taxation of tobacco products to levels "punitave by design",, and the general economic "funk"that spelled "no wage increase" or "no job" for so many......BUT WHY NOT LINE THE POCKETS OF BIG BUSINESS, JUST FOR THE "WARM FUZZY"? EH?