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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by greyhounds [quote]QUOTE: From THE FUTURE -- greyhounds - You're slipping into Ed territory. That being said, you said something that begs for objectivity. We all know about aggregation, glad to see that you do as well, so we can skip that primer. You stated, "How much they aggregate depends on a trade off between customer service, capital costs, and operating expense." What we've been discussing is that very trade off to which you refer. The railroad wants to aggregate to the max, because the bean counters say that's the best way. The merchandise customer wants his shipment at a decent price AND in an expedient manner, else he gets fed up and takes his shipping to the mode of last resort, trucking. Trucking is generally more expensive than carload, so the shipper is taking a hit if that expediency is not manifested by the railroad. [/quote] Where do you get the time to make this stuff up. I haven't "slipped" into anybody's territory since I was in the Army, and then it was only in training. You start from false premises - then construct a fantasy. You say: " The railroad wants to aggregate to the max, because the bean counters say that's the best way." This is absolute lunacy. Railroad costing accountants aren't stupid. They can understand trade offs between train operating costs and capital costs. Aparently, you can't. You seem to think there's some "Magic" that will lower train operting costs with open access. There is no such thing as "Magic". It's going to cost an OA operatior just as much to run a train as anyone else. This means, to anyone with a basic understanding of cost accounting, that they'll need just as many revenue loads on a train to optimize its operation as anyone else. So the OA Operators will have to run trains just as long as the, oh say, just for example, the BNSF. But It will take the OA operators longer to put those trains together, driving up their capital costs and their overall costs. Not because it will take them longer to switch the cars, but because they'll have to wait longer for the cars to arrive. But you don't understand any of this because you belive in Magic. And I think your invention is really stupid. Ken [/quote] Thanks, Ken. You said it all in a nutshell, literally. OA opponents ALWAYS slip into insults and personal attacks, because apparently they always run out of substanitive arguments. You say "false premise" regarding the roll of bean counters in influencing railroad decision making, yet you acknowledge that these same people are basically concerned with "costs", so apparently even you accept the premise. Just for the record, bean counters are not marketers, and it is the marketers that determine the extent of that all important factor known as "gross revenues". Somewhere along the line the investments needed for increasing gross revenues gets recategorized as "costs", wherein the reccomendation gets handed down from Accounting that these "costs" need to be reduced to improve the bottom line. Consequently, the railroad reduces it's investments in the aggregate customer base, and that aggregate customer base gets whittled down to a select few. In the meantime, truckers increase their total market share of transportation revenues to 80+%, and railroaders are scratching their collective heads wondering how that could ever happen, even as the blood still drips from the cleaver in their hands. Do you consider the fact that many shortlines and regionals regularly run consists of 20 to 30 cars and make a good profit doing so, or is that another one of my "false premises"? If as you aver railroads can't possibly cover their costs running consists of 20 to 30 cars at a time, then why do some railroads accompli***hat very thing which you deny? Do you even consider how the shipper responds to this level of service as opposed to the one carload per month level of "service"? Perhaps it is you who live in a fantasy world constructed of denial. BTW, it isn't OA operators who would run trains, it is the transporters. And they won't be lowering their operating costs so much as expanding their customer base by increasing revenue loads per time period to, oh say, just for example, MORE THAN ONE CARLOAD PER MONTH.
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