Edit topic

Updated your discussion topic below.

Subject
Enter a subject for your topic. Maximum 150 characters.
Post Body
Enter your post below.
Here's one to ponder.......If you asked 10 people on the street how the railroads are doing, I would bet that 8 or 9 would say that they're dying, they're a non-issue in America. Who uses them? What do they haul? The remaining one or two would have no data to even offer that much of an opinion. Does that prospect concern anybody? I work in transportation and when newly-hired people sit in with me for orientation (since I'm the RR guy), a lot of them sheepishly ask, "Um, are the railroads still a viable way to move freight?" These are educated people who are starting a career in transportation. I think a lot of this outlook that the RR's are on the way under is based on people seeing the branch line in their hometown being torn up and being made into a bike trail. People don't realize how the RR's have sort of mimicked the interstate highway system (their supposed nemesis) and have retrenched largely to a high-volume, hub-to-hub, corridor focused system (i.e. many fewer lanes, but more capacity and more trains in those lanes.) The average person has no idea about that. They've never seen the triple track at North Platte or Logan Hill in the Powder River Basin. They don't know about the BNSF Double-Track Transcon Main. They have no idea what it means that CTC was added to a line or sidings were added or lengthened. They just know what they see, which, with regard to RR's, frankly isn't much for most folks. The trains that they do see just appear as random things. No real rhyme or reason to them. No pattern. No big picture. Do the RR's care that this perception exists. I've directly heard Sr. Execs from BNSF, NS, CSX & CN say no. When asked if this bothers them, they said that they wouldn't support any advertising to change this perception. Did the Union Pacific "Building America" campaign do any good with regard to this issue. Well, it was flashy. It had some nice landscape shots. It even won some awards, but really, when you boil it all down, what did it say? "We're still in business!" Not much more than that, did it? I've had stunned looks when I tell people that in the last 10-15 years, the RR's have moved more tons of freight, more miles than at any time in history (even more than during WW II.) They don't believe it. They just say "You're kidding, right?" The RR's are satisfied to toil in obscurity. Maybe that's why they have such a hard time getting support for things like regional transit, Amtrak, public-private funding for infrastructure (i.e. intermodal ramps, grade crossing projects, etc.) I guess if the majority of folks thought that my business was dying, I'd be concerned. I don't think that the RR's are. I've seen no showing of concern. Maybe that's just their arrogance. Would it bother you?[?]
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag
E-mail Subscribe
Check the box below if you want to receive e-mail notifications when replies are made to this thread.

Receive notifications