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Farmers complain about BNSF rates to STB

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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by futuremodal [quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by rick bonfiglio now i can see why both kids had to go to the principals office. what a convoluted and confusing way to point out what the railroads and farmers have been doing to each other for the last 150 years (and don't criticize my math). when it's all said and done, the farmers will still suffer, and the railroad will get smaller due to public resentment. this is an old story, and i can't believe i wasted the time to read all five pages. -rrick [/quote] What you're missing is that until Staggers, rail rates were regulated to reflect mileage based hauls, and frankly there were more railroads to do business with. The rate differential between Montana grain shipments and Nebraska grain shipments with the same destination and same relative mileage was for all intents and purposes indistinguishable. Since Staggers, you get to the point where the captive shippers like Montana are paying double the rates of the non-captive shippers like Nebraska. So it's not an analysis of the last 150 years of acrimony between farmers and the multitude of railroads, it's the focus on the last 25 years of acrimony between suddenly captive rail shippers and the immense railroad oligarchy. It's a situation that needs to be rectified before we lose our ag and industrial base to foreign producers. [/quote] Oh, boy, here we go again... I thought I was watching the ad for "Chicken Little" again... But, no, it's just FM with his usual, "the sky is falling" approach to railroads... Of course, in the pre-Staggers world many of the granger roads were nearly or really bankrupt. Look at the finances of the CRIP, MILW or CNW and you'll find that all were having a tough go of it. Also, the dynamics of the grain markets have changed quite a bit over the years with a large shift to western ports for exports rather than domestic use or shipments from the Gulf Ports via the river systems. Last time I checked Montana was pretty challenged in terms of water transport to any deepwater port. LC
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