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"Railroads can't maintain pace of coal demand"

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[quote user="jeaton"]  This interesting quote from the article:"Industry analyst Donald Broughton of A.G. Edwards & Sons said railroads shouldn't take all the blame for the coal capacity problems because the facilities at the mines and utilities are part of the issue. Everyone would benefit from higher capacity, he said. It's just a matter of determining who will pay for all the improvements. "The finger-pointing and crying about who needs to do more is just good old-fashioned negotiating, in my mind," Broughton said."Of course,  some may decide Broughton is just a lackey for the railroads and the AAR.  Google indicates that this article was picked up by many newspapers.  Some had "Struggle" in the headline while others said "Railroads move coal in record amounts".  I guess "struggle" can be interpreted different ways, but the suggestion that the railroads "Can't" get the job done seems to be pushing the spin envelope just a bit.[/quote]Jay, ya missed the gist again!What I was pointing out was the lack of any mention of the DM&E project, and the subsequent comparison of DM&E PRB spending vs the stated PRB spending goals of UP/BNSF.  Just thought it was a strange omission, since it would make those stated numbers look puny by comparison.But since you brought it up....Doesn't it seem strange to you that Broughton plays the "adding capacity" card as some sort of liability to the railroads, rather than treating new capacity as a revenue producing asset?  It's funny, but usually businesses will gladly finance new capacity when demand is outstripping current supply, but the railroads.........???  Heck, they even have a new conduit to the federal treasury for loan guarantees for new construction!
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