Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by CSSHEGEWISCH One question that has not been answered: Since the concept of open access as predicated in this thread is based on government ownership of the rights of way, where would the money come from to accompli***his and how would the rights of way be purchased without a statutory basis for such purchase and without contravening the 5th Amendment? Also, the Law of Unintended Consequences is still in effect. Since it is also held that the rights of way would be exempt from property taxes, how would the school districts which depend heavily on property tax revenue replace the revenue lost from such an exemption? [/quote] 1. The ROW wouldn't necessarily have to be publicly owned. It could be either private or a public/private ownership. Vertical splits of corporations are not unheard of, and if the intent is to "equalize" rail ROW with that of other modes, it would make sense for the privately owned ROW to be run as a regulated utility to keep access charges reasonable, while the transporters would be unregulated to ensure market based competition and innovation. There's also the possibility of an Interstate Highway-type of new rail corridor development, paid for primarily by an Infrastructure Trust Fund, and these new Interstate rail corridors would either supplement or supplant the current proprietary rail grid. The concepts put forth for HSR are logical examples of open access, given the now obvious national detriments of the proprietary rail systems we have now e.g. massive retrenchments, monopolistic pricing, et al. 2. It is doubtful that property taxes on railroad ROW's have that much impact on the overall property tax base used by school districts, especially if open access results in positive unintended consequences such as new commercial development or reduced road damage due to publicly perserved branchlines. Indeed, public entities have the right and finacial access to purchase branch lines to perserve them, but what's the use of doing so if the only connection is a less than cooperative Class I? School districts take greater hits when the Nature Conservancy buys up property and takes it off the tax rolls.
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