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To all: I apologize for allowing myself to get drawn into the personal attacks. I'll try to keep my posts above the sea of insults from now on. RE: The "numbers" thing - As I've stated before, I don't believe there are any publicly accessable studies that analyze the prospective comparison of converting the current U.S. rail picture into some form of open access vs leaving things as they are and/or reregulating railroad rates and services. I have scanned all the Class I websites, the AAR website, the FRA website, the STB website, and have not found any studies on the issue. Trust me on this, I truly wi***he AAR or FRA would come out with some initial analysis of open access, even if it was (predictably) skewed to discount any positive effects, either on the railroads or on the U.S. economy. At the very least, it would be something to critique beyond the current dependence on logic and reason. Perhaps some of you might want to ask them why they have no numbers to prove once and for all that open access won't work. Gabe - I have a fundamental disagreement with the way you have framed your last post, and I won't go to much into your assertion that I am the one being rude (brings to mind the little analogy about a pot and a kettle.....). The only one on this forum to whom it can legitimately be said that I was rude would be Ed B. Needless to say, the real major point of contention between the two of us seems to exist not in any debates about railroad operations or regulations, but of the role a representative democracy-type government is supposed to play in an ostensible free market environment. If I read your words accurately, you do not believe that a true conservative would be in favor of any government oversight of markets to ensure a maintenance of competitive markets, thus anyone who favors some form of check and balance regarding monopolistic behaviour would be labeled a socialist in your book. I know this is probably going to exasterbate your patience, but could you please tell me if you favor the Electoral system for electing a president or do you favor direct popular vote? Do you favor each state having two Senators irregardless of population, or do you feel the number of Senators a state has should be based more on the population of that state? The reason I ask is that I recognize that in order for Democracy to work (and by association a free market), there has to be some checks and balances in place to prevent Democracy (and/or the free market) from imploding into mob rule. I do not believe there are any realistic checks on the monopolistic characteristics of the current Class I railroad oligarchy when it comes to captive shippers. I think it is unrealistic to avow that trucks are any viable form of competition for today's railroads, rather that as things stand now trucks are the primary feeder system for railroads, and without the willing participation of the trucking industry today most railroads would go under in short time. And for the record, I honestly do not have any dogs in this fight, and yes I am currently working for an energy company. CSSHEGEWISCH: I do not believe I have personally attacked you in any way, rather I have issued a challenge to you to provide evidence of any trucking firm providing a real challenge to a current rail haul between two terminals. I know that you can't provide the sufficient number of examples to completely blow my assertion out of the water, but I expect you to be able to come up with at an example or two to at least buttress the long standing myth of trucks being de facto competition for railroads. Keep trying. Ed aka MP173: I have said this before, but I'll repeat it for your benefit. I do not believe an open access infrastructure company could make it on it's own without some form of ROW cost equalization to better reflect the aspects of public support for highways and waterways beyond user fees. That being said, if a rail line has insufficient usage to continue under private operation, I believe that line should go to the local government by default, and that way the decision to continue operations or to abandon the line falls on the shoulders of the local government. I do not believe that any rail company that receives some form of government support should be allowed to liquidate that line (e.g. no more scrapping of the rails and ties), that should be one of the caveats of public support for railroads whether they convert to open access or not. Murphy: Thanks for the compliment, but my college days are long gone. However, I do still get carded at grocery stores if I wear a hat.
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