Ulrich CN then wasn't built by taxpayers either; after all CN was initially the conglomeration of a number of private lines including the National Transcontinental, the Intercolonial, the Canadian Nothern, the Grand Trunk and Grand Trunk Pacific. The railways in Canada were overbuilt by the beginning of the last century , and the formation of CN was for the most part an attempt to rationalize and to make sense of railways that by themselves had no hope of becoming profitable. The fact that CN does so well today is testament to the fact that the Company was reasonably well managed in its last decades as a Crown Corporation and of course since its privatization in 1995.
CN then wasn't built by taxpayers either; after all CN was initially the conglomeration of a number of private lines including the National Transcontinental, the Intercolonial, the Canadian Nothern, the Grand Trunk and Grand Trunk Pacific. The railways in Canada were overbuilt by the beginning of the last century , and the formation of CN was for the most part an attempt to rationalize and to make sense of railways that by themselves had no hope of becoming profitable. The fact that CN does so well today is testament to the fact that the Company was reasonably well managed in its last decades as a Crown Corporation and of course since its privatization in 1995.
The reality is both railways had taxpayer assistance over the construction period. The Onderdonk section through the Fraser canyon was government built and turned over to CPR, as was a second portion of the original main line east of North Bay in Ontario. I believe there was a cash subsidy as well as the land grants to CPR, but it is arguably the best investment in economic development ever made. The CNR constituents also received grants and subsidies to enable construction, as well as government guaranteeing bonds. The GTR had to be bailed out several times in the 19th century, mostly by the governments of the time absorbing the loss. As the CNoR and GTR descended into bankruptcy around the time of WW1, guess who had to foot the bill (again).
The National Transcontinental was in fact built by the government, and the GTR had foolishly agreed beforehand to lease it with the payment to be based on a percentage of the construction cost. That went way over estimate and potential traffic was scarce. The Intercolonial Railway was built and owned by the government, and was never a private line.
My understanding is that in its 70-odd years as a Crown Corporation CNR was recapitalised more than once. I think that basically meant writing off more taxpayer dollars that had been invested to make the ongoing books look better. CPR had to pay its way after the initial construction of the main line, The additional branches that followed also often had some initial assistance. Financing ongoing improvements was limited by what shareholders were willing to reinvest and the capital markets willing to lend. CN had only one shareholder, the federal government, who could at times be a very forgiving banker, especially if the project had political benefits.
John
Well CN is basically scheduled but also the US based railroads have more trains running around and often run a lot of unscheduled "as needed" or "when ever it is ready" trains (ie ethanol, steel, coal) so it has a tendency to mess up flow somewhere along the line. However, if CSX for example was more scheduled and routed intermodals down the Canada Southern ie (had they purchased it from Conrail while Chessie System) I wonder what their Terminal Dwell times would be. Also, what is available crew capacity like for the railroads if that makes sense? Are they 100 percent capacity; do they need more crews and how many more or do they have surpluss crews etc-that will make a difference too.
As far as the current hours go, how come customers with the US railroads seem more satisfied than customers from Canadian railroads? What is going on there?
Junctionfan [snipped] . . . NS runs tons of roadrailers . . . Why are they having capacity issues? Why are they not embarking more on projects that involve government investment such as the private and public partnerships NS and CSX have been getting with their new intermodal facilities and tunnel clearence projects?
CP has also been pretty aggressive in negotiating "directional running" agreements - mostly with CN - and trackage rights to expand its capacity and extend its reach cheaply. There's a long-standing DR arrangement for about 75 or 100 miles from Sudbury to Parry Sound, and a few years ago the one along the Fraser River Canyon was implemented. I know CP acquired (via D&H, dating back to the 1976 ConRail formation) rights into Allentown, Harrisburg, and Philadelphia, PA, Washington, D.C. and I believe also into northern New Jersey. WIthin the last few years (if my memory is right) into eastern Long Island - from or with CSX, as a reciprocal for the Syracuse - Montreal route.
- Paul North.
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