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2006 - The Year of Re-Regulation of Railroads?

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Yeah, GPS is too newfangled for the railroads to touch. Better wait another 50 years until trucks and ships prove it's value, then finally adopt it. Tom, just remember "more trains" does not mean more congestion, it means greater fluidity of the system. Occupying a slot is a function of time, not train length. The less time a train occupies a slot, the faster that slot becomes available for the next train. If longer consists could get faster, great, but it seems that the practical solution to reduce the time a slot is occupied is to run 'em shorter and quicker, until someone comes up with a way to run 'em longer and quicker. Even then, the longer consists will always take more time to make up and break up. Parking cars in a yard somewhere is not a solution to discapacity. Regarding GVW, it must be pointed out that increasing a truck's GVW will not have any effect of adding to highway congestion, because that heavier truck is still booking along at the max speed limit except on grades, and most grades these days have passing lanes, so no one is being inhibited by that heavier truck. There's plenty of places to pass on most highways. In fact, increasing GVW standards for trucks will reduce the number of trucks required to haul a set tonnage of cargo, so the effect can be reduced ambient highway congestion. On railroads, it's different, because "passing" zones are few and far between, so one heavy train bumbling along will clog up the whole system. Do what ever it takes to limit the amount of time a consist spends on a slot, and then and only then can you effectively "add" capacity without laying a single new set of rails.
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