Canadian National: world's best?

[Anonymous]

Best in the world... SNCF(French National Railways) with the TGV. Or DBAG (German Fedaral Railways) with a small but expanding high speed network of its own and excellent punctuality. Nothing in north america even comparis with the Western Europen networks so you can't call a North American railway the best in the world.

[Anonymous]

Have no fear CN will run the Wc into the ground just like Cn is headed no power, no crews, no good!

[eolafan]

Thanks for seconding my nomination of WC! I also hope Ed B. is successful, if for no other reason than to keep those wonderful SD45 and F/FP45 units in service for years to come that he bought from WC recently. Jim

[Soo2610]

I'll second that nomination! WC was one heck of a well run railroad. Will be interesting to see if Burkhardt is as successful in his new endeavors on the east coast.

[eolafan]

Since we're now including regionals in our discussion,let me nominate Wisconsin Central (long may it's flag wave now that it is no longer exists in seperate form). A great piece of railroad, with excellently maintained power (and great to look at/listen to power at that), very prompt timetable keeping, etc.

[Anonymous]

I would say the Florida East Coast has got to be right up there. Not Flagler's folly after all. One kick-butt regeonal.

[Anonymous]

We in North America tend to think that because something is big it must be the best. Yes CN is big, although not as big as UP or BNSF, but big is not necessarily better. One reason why CN is currently on top of the heap is because of its financial performance. In order to do this CN has shed miles of trackage so it is basically an end to end system, not a network. It takes much more work and skill to run a network and have co-ordination at many different nodes than the structure of CN's routes. This is why it is difficult for BNSF, UP, NS and CSX to achieve the same results. It becomes even more difficult to compare the results with those of European rail networks. In order to achieve its financial sucesses it has taken short term views by announcing decisions to decrease the amount of double trackage in several key areas such as between Jasper and Kamloops and between London and Sarnia. These segments are not low density routes but high density routes. Where is the logic? One can only surmise the this is being done to improve short term shareholder performance. As a CN shareholder this does not benefit the company in the long run. This has a short term improvement in costs but in the long term it leads to higher future costs since the future costs of replacing the trackage will be much greater. In the interim, trains move at a slower velocity making it more difficult for trains to compete with trucks or passenger trains to compete with automobiles. It is easy to shed capacity but much more difficult to add capacity. It is also easier to shed capacity than to build traffic to utilize the existing capacity at a moderate traffic density.
You are quite correct in saying that a number of CN's decisions have been good ones, let us hope that most of the decisions in the future continue to be as good.

[Jackflash]

Saw that Bears Saints game on TV, it was a real
good game though....jackflash

[eolafan]

Well, not being a world traveler I can not comment on any roads outside the US but inside the US I would vote for BNSF or UP.

[Steve4031]

The way CN handle passenger traffic on the ex IC mainline is atrocious. I used Amtrak to go from Chicago to Champaignn to see the Bears games. The dispatcher stuck us behind freights on both trips resulting in 45 minutes to 60 minutes delay. In additon, we had to pull into sidings and back out on each trip. This was tolerable after the Bears beat the Vikings. But after the loss to the Saints, I summed up the day by stating that the Bears offensive coordinator stunk, and that the CN dispatcher stunk even more. LOL.

[Anonymous]

It proved that the CN has made a number of decisions that have proven to be very good ones. But to claim to be the worlds best, that is really open to conjecture. The world is still a very big place, and since the CN is a freight RR, what about the fine European systems that have a tremendous passenger network, and do a great job day in and day out. CN can arguably be called the best in North America, but the world is still a big place, with lots of RR systems that should be considered.

[jsanchez]

I think the Swiss run the best railroads, France is up there also.....

[Anonymous]

World's best? Probably nothing in North America--probably somewhere in Europe, such as Germany. Waiting for a train that's FIVE minutes late? The onboard crew is very apologetic. I've also heard that in Spain, you are refunded a certain amount of money if the train is so many minutes late (this may be BS). Now this is service!!! WORLD'S Best? Do people in the deep jungles of Vietnam know about our WORLD series? Hmmm.......North America may not be the world after all.....

[Anonymous]

Well then who is?

[eolafan]

Perhaps, just perhaps, they are the winner in rags to riches, but the world's best? NO WAY IN HELL!

[Anonymous]

Did TRAINS Magazine prove its assertion that CN is today's best railroad? Or are there other contenders to the title? Tell us what you think!