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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by spbed Is the BNSF getting public money to build that 3rd main track from East Barstow towards Daggett they are now building[?][ [quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by futuremodal Off topic: I know the writer of the article, Peter Harriman. He was one of my old running chums back in Moscow ID. On topic: Of course DME will need public funds. All rail projects today use public funds. And given the liabilities private debt holders would face if the current pro-coal Congress and Admininstration were replaced by an anti-coal party, it's not suprising private cash was scarce for this project. [/quote] [/quote] C'mon Spbed, surely you can tell the difference between adding capacity to an existing line vs building an entirely new line from scratch, right? But just for the sake of dissection, from the other forums you know that BNSF is using it's excess profits from gouging Montana and North Dakota grain growers (e.g. our fellow Americans) and using those profits to add capacity to it's Chinese import corridors. Those grain growers, in response to the lack of net revenue from the sale of those crops (with one third to one half of their crop income going to pay BNSF's transport rates), will be more likely to access agricultural subsidies. BNSF is also gouging it's captive coal customers and chemical shippers, so those customers must access the newly available Energy Bill funds to pay for new projects. So it can be argued that some ag subsidies and energy bill subsidies are really indirect subsidies for railroads, since most railroads out west make the bulk of thier income off either farmers or utilities. Or to put it another way, eliminate all ag subsidies and energy subsidies, and what do you think happens to the railroads? Quite simply, they go broke, because the *revenues* from intermodal don't even cover the STB's revenue adaquacy standard. Add to that the neo-subsidy which comes in the form of anti-trust exemption (an exemption not enjoyed by any other industry in the US except for the railroads), and of course the continuing impact of the original land grants, and we got quite an array of various forms of public support for railroads. So is BNSF getting public money for their Chinese import corridor expansion projects? Absolutely, but not in the classic sense of the direct subsidy or loan. DM&E is just taking it's place at the trough along with the current Class I's. I say more power to them.
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