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Railroads Struggle to Deliver Coal to Utilities

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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by Murphy Siding [quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by TomDiehl [quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by Murphy Siding [quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by Murphy Siding [quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by futuremodal Many other industries will maintain "unused" assets for long periods of time, because they understand the cyclical nature of business. Apparently, railroads do not understand this basic business tenet. You see, if you scrap an asset, you don't have that asset later on when you need it. Now that the nation's energy and other transportation needs are such that abandoned lines would be put into play right now, it shows a lack of foresight (or a complete lack of concern) by the shortsighted railroad industry. Don't these guys follow economic trends? Or did they think that the US was destined for a Soviet-style command economy, so why save assets if the railroads are going to be taken over by the federales? [/quote] Hey Dave- any chance you could make a quick list of the under-utilized or dormant rail lines that will be really busy 10 years from now? 20 years from now? That way, the railroads would have an easier time planning some of this stuff?[;)][:-,] [/quote] Michael: The post relates back to this post. It is Dave's contetion that railroads should have held onto all of those unused,or under-used rail lines that they would need far in the future, although they just didn't know it at the time. Your recent postings on this thread seem to support this same idea. Somewhere on a Milwaukee Road thread (of all things!) you wrote a very good explanation of how the granger roads were going broke because of all the unprofitable lines they weren't allowed to abandon. Would you have advocated railroads spending money to save lines for a rainy day, that may never have come? [/quote] Actually Murph, it goes back to the third post on page 2 by Futuremodal, last paragraph: "Again, I will ask you this: Can you name any other industry besides the rail industry that has engaged in such a canabalistic attitude toward it's hard assets?" A few people took the bait. [/quote] Come to think of it, there were several power plants in the Dakotas, Minnesota and Iowa that have been decommisioned and torn down. Didn't they anticipate future energy needs? What do you think that is all about?[:0] [/quote] Murphy, I think you will understand this: The decommissioned power plants were replaced by newer power plants. The abandoned rail lines were not replaced by newer rail lines. Comprende muchacho? And I never said all abandoned rail lines should have been saved. We talked about that before, not to long ago. You have either a very poor memory, or a very disingenuous tact for trying to denegrate folks such as I. Which is it?
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