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Railroads Struggle to Deliver Coal to Utilities

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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by MichaelSol [quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by jeaton [br I will add to my original point. Of all the track abandoned, what was the split of branch line and trunk line, and then just how much of the abandoned trunk line would now be useful. [/quote] But, branchlines are just not a capacity issue. The closing of a phosphate mine on some branch has little to do with discussions of capacity, which is a through route or mainline issue and even at that, the discussion is tempered by management of existing mainlines as much as broad discussions of mainline abandonment. [/quote] You are quite right with respect to lines that are served only by one or two significant customers. But there are many examples of where main routes whether sections of multiple track or whole complete lines have been abandoned or removed for short term gain. In the past the railroads have been guilty of making the capacity meet the traffic level rather than going out and marketing their services so that the traffic level meets the capacity. Obviously technology also plays a role in their decision to replace multi-track routes with signalled single track routes but in my opinion signals do not replace track. It is one thing to downgrade a triple track route to double track but to downgrade a double track route to single is part of the reason why we are where we are today. Railroads have been guilty of abandoning routes that while not being high density routes do have enough volume to remain open but choose to re-route the traffic via alternate routes to save money. The problem is that they assume the traffic will follow their plan in spite of longer transit times due to indirect routings. This means the cost increases in the long term. The other thing people forget about is the impact of passenger train service on rail density. Although gross ton miles may have increased on many routes the actual number of trains has declined due to the withdrawal of passenger service. If the government or somebody had supported more passenger service much of the infrastructure would have been maintained. It is not just tonnage that makes a rail line viable. Passenger train service tends to keep the trackage and signal system at a higher level which also benefits freight. The question has always been how much of the costs should be borne by the freight and passenger components.
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