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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by dharmon [quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by jchnhtfd ..... But, of course, there are capacity limitations on the various lines; who is to decide who gets to run when? First come, first served? That's not the way it's done in the air, friends -- at any of the busier airports, there is a reservation system, and the airlines bid for slots -- so and so many planes per day, and no more. Is this a good system or a bad one? Hard to say, but it's the only one that works. And believe me, those slots aren't cheap. So we don't really have open access in the air, and we couldn't on the rails, either -- there are only just so many trains per day that can be run safely. OK. Back to square one. Now I also need the capital to bid for a slot on the line from East Overshoe to Long Beach. (maybe, one might say, the slots could be assigned by a lottery system, on a daily or monthly basis... so this day my two containers get the slot, and tomorrow the BNSF Maersk train, with two miles of containers, gets the slot (they sat in the yard today)). [/quote] So being the capitalist that I am, I set up Dan RR, LLC and though I have no locomotives or rolling stock, I bid for as many slots per month as I can, and then allow BNSF and UP et al, to use my slots for a tidy little profit to take advantage of this new openess. [/quote] 1. I believe there would have to be some sort of minimum requirements that would eliminate the jokers and speculators, that is a rather simple problem to fix. One simple caveat is to disallow transfer of slot rights for cash. 2. If a slot goes for a minimum of say $5,000, who in their right mind is going to put up that kind of money without making sure they have the carloads to cover it? The slot price would probably be based on prevailing train size and highest demand periods, in order to maximize the use of availbable capacity, e.g. no CargoSprinters here. Locals could be a problem, but then again not all capacity is being used all hours of the day, days of the week, etc. so they can be delegated time slots of low mainline usage One aspect of having local and state governments buying an interest in their local open access rails is to enable shortline access to those businesses that generate smaller numbers of carloads.
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