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I can empathize somewhat with what you say, except for your argument that "technology doesn't work". It's the same line used by "old heads" about something called the telegraph. No doubt there's a steam locomotive engineer out there somewhere who shook his head and said "Yeah, but you'll never get me to run one of those things for a couple of hundred miles." when he saw his first diesel. It's easy, and human, to wi***hat life didn't change... that it was somehow safer and better in "the old days". No one really figured that the powered box kite Wilbur and Orville put together would turn into a major form of transportation. At the same time, folks figured the Model T wasn't going to do much of anything, either. Both forms of transportation wiped out the passenger rail service in the USA. When Americans figure out that a car costs more and is more hassle to operate than riding a train, they might come back. (The Long Island Rail Road is about the only US railroad to make a living off carrying people. The Long Island Expressway is the reason why.) Flight engineers on airlines screamed when Boeing and Douglas started designing aircraft that only needed two people to fly them. The pilots are complaining about the so called "glass cockpits", saying that a power failure will wipe out their ability to fly a plane successfully. Of course, many of the power systems that run those glass cockpits also run fun things like flight controls... so if the power fails, the plane is going to lose altitude at a rapid rate. I haven't checked with him lately, but my mailman gets through his route faster these days. I send cards, but I don't remember when I last sent a letter out to anyone... it's all done by E-mail, which is faster and more reliable. The point of the thread is that railroads have to figure out some way to move freight faster, safer, and cover more distance. Yes, they have to upgrade their infrastructure to carry more freight. The easiest solution, and one that's able to be put into place almost immediately, is to come up with ways to more efficiently use the work force they have. The sad truth is that American corporations- not just railroads- expect more out of their employees for less pay and more hours. They can do this because it's cheaper to retire someone who wouldn't "live on board one of those things for 30 days" with someone who will, and doesn't know any better. And is astonished at the paycheck they get. If American railroads can come up with a more effective way to get their people to work harder, faster, more efficiently, and oh, by the way, don't drop the chemical train in the river, they will. If the unions can figure out how to improve 21st century labor costs and working conditions without making a corporation dive for bankruptcy, more power to them. But the guy who says "I ain't going to live on one of those things for thirty days" could very well be told to "reevaluate his career path.... and get on the train or get off the property." That's the plain, simple unvarnished truth. Erik
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