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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by oltmannd This just in! OA a smashing success in Europe! http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/10/19/business/transcol20.php NOT! [/quote] LSHMCOOMN! Of all the crap that Don Phillips has put out there, this article was probably the worst (and given the fact that he was a Washington Post hack, that's saying alot!) This was commentary at best, with no references for comparison. It is fantasy, the way AAR wishes the real world was instead of facing the world as it really is. Tell me oltmannd, where are his references? his statistics of comparison? None? Hmmm, not suprising at all. He quotes one so-called "British Rail consultant" as saying things in Europe are a mess all due to OA, yet he reluctantly admits the varying governments' foot dragging has effectively delayed things. The entire (and disparate)European rail system was formerly government run railroads, with all the inherent inefficencies of government run railroading (aka: Amtrak). I guess you thing the Europeans should have sold the entire system to one of the US Class I's, since of course they are such great contributors to the societal welfare here in the US! Not! God help the Iraqis if Hemphill and company turn that system into the closed access nightmare of captive shippers, bottleneck rate gouging, paper barriers to shortlines, et al! Then for sure they'd all want Saddam back! If you had even bothered to read the "British Rail Operations" thread on this very forum, you would know that the predominance of passenger trains is the main reason freight cannot be transfered from road to rail. That is Europe's Achilles Heel when it comes to freight railroading, capacity is maxed with too many passenger trains. However, even with that inherent drawback, railroad freight marktet share in Britiain has increased 40% since OA was established (source: The "British Rail Operations" thread). Read the Italian OA thread I started, you will see yet another new business utilizing rail for intermodal movements, a business that would be on the roads right now if European railroads had remained nationalized or gone North American-style closed access. The fact is this: Business opportunities are being explored and develped under OA in Europe, despite the fact that passenger services hog the mainlines, and it's something that would NEVER had happened under a closed access regime. Even you would have to admit to that. Closed acces is an anachronism that should rightly go the way of the buggy whip.
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