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88gta350, <br /> <br />As you can see by Mudchicken's kneejerk and misdefined view of the idea of separate infrastructure and transporting entities for the NA rail system, there is a narrow-minded cultishness that dominates those who work for the rail industry. His reactionary response to the presentation of evolved ideas is the result of a deep seated fear in the rail oligarchy that the monopolistic gravy train would soon end if the rail playing field was ever opened up to de facto competition. Obviously, given the fact that all other transportation modes function extremely well in an open access environment, one must question why the rail industry continues to short itself with the closed access mentality (and continue to lose market share to other modes as well). It is even more intriguing in Mudchicken's case, given that he is a MOW worker and would thrive working for an infrastructure company. At least, it would be useful for folks such as he to provide some background for their opposition, rather than shovel out insults and inuendo to those who present the new ideas. The fact that the only rebuttal these folks can give in opposition to open access is the problems experienced in Great Britain during it's startup of an open access regime shows that their body of work in this rebuttal is thin indeed, especially when one considers that the British open access rail system is now thriving. Add to that the success experienced in other European countries and Australia, and there is no question such a system would do wonders here in NA for making railroads dominate in intercity freight transportation once again. <br /> <br />If you really want an example of myopic hypocrasy, try the fact that railroaders complain about the "subsidies" for the infrastructure of other modes, yet they themselves will reject any attempt to include the nation's rail system under a similar regime. You sometimes get the feeling that railroaders would rather see the nation's other transportation systems devolved into closed access regimes for highways, waterways, airways, pipelines, and transmission as the way to "level" the playing field, rather than joining their modal counterparts in a superiorly evolved state of existence. <br /> <br />What the rail heirarchy doesn't understand is that the current closed access oligarchy is untendable, and will either be eventually re-regulated by the feds in response to the mounting complaints from captive shippers regarding rate gouging and underserved industries regarding poor or refused service requests, or the nation's rail grid will be nationalized to provide the necessary rate and service relief for our nation's manufacturers and producers (at a huge cost to transportation productivity). The best solution is a separation of the private rail network into infrastructure and transporting companies, with the infrastructure companies functioning as regulated utilities and the transporter companies functioning as the transporter companies do in other modes, but given the lack of cognitive abilities and forward-thinking vision in both the industry and government (not to mention the complete ignorance the average voting citizen has toward the current rail structure), the other two options are more likely to happen.
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