Dying Railroads in the Poor House

[wallyworld]

This debate has been ongoing for decades and outside of externally prompted deregulation there has not been any equal or significant internal shift in the mindset of railroad management that has turned the situation around. Whether you look at the lack of capital funds, shrinking range of commodities, track abandonment’s or the absorption of failing lines by others, the writing on the wall is so old most who pass by it dismiss it as very old news. Romanticists who think otherwise need to book an excursion on the Penn Central.
Railroad management has the Inbred arrogance that holds the assumed necessity of their mode of transportation. They might as well own stock in the Erie Canal. Railroads need to connect with the general public whom they blithely ignore who, in the reality outside of corporate offices, retain their services and issue them their paychecks. They need to sell, sell, sell to the public and speed things up abit faster than the Pony Express. Promote speed and make it stick. Charge a premium. Go after small shipments beyond lugging coal which has about as much of a long term future as whale oil. Intermodal is great. It’s the only bright innovation since the invention of diesel power. .