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Railroads may reject high-speed projects
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<P mce_keep="true">[quote user="dakotafred"] <P>See Fred W. Frailey's story on the Friday newswire. Surprised that nobody has responded with a new post, I will start one myself.</P> <P>Here, I believe, the railroads are being shown the potential cost of climbing into bed with Washington, whether for high-speed rail or capacity improvements. Given the expansive notion of government prerogatives exhibited by the Obama administration, it would not surprise me in the least if the carriers did not ultimately have to go to court for affirmation of their right to reject the kind of onerous terms proposed by the FRA. [/quote]</P> <P mce_keep="true">As someone who spent a career in the electric utility business, I have had a lot of experience with regulators. The trick in regulation is to get the balance correct. It must be smart regulation. If it isn't, it can produce a variety of unintended consequences.</P> <P>A key weakness in the regulator process lies in the fact that most of the regulators, although not all of them, don't have the capabilities of the industry personnel that they are regulating. This was certainly true in our business. We paid two to three times what the regulatory agencies paid. As a result, we simply got better people, i.e. better education, better experience, etc.</P> <P>I don't know much about the FRA, other than a few articles that I have read, nor do I know anything about the proposed high speed rail regulations, but if I were the CEO of a private carrier, I would be leery about any proposed regulation. I would want to be sure that the regulation, as well as the regulator, understood my business and was imbued with real world flexibility.</P>
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