Why Can't America Have Great Trains?: A Washington mystery

National Journal ^ | 18 April 2015 | Simon Van Zuylen-Wood

[M Kehoe]

I just had to ping you...

5.56mm

[MrB]

Without gov’t power to implement their folly,
liberals are simply an odd curiosity.

[AppyPappy]

http://www.wdbj7.com/news/local/roanokebuilt-locomotive-returns-home/32981712

[DoodleDawg]

Our trains run far slower and to far fewer cities and towns now than they ran in the 1920s!

Our airlines fly much faster and to far more cities and towns than they did in the 1920s. You don't suppose there's a correlation, do you?

[Publius]

That's because there was a massive tearing out of rail infrastructure in the Fifties and Sixties. Wall Street even considered getting rid of the railroads and moving all freight via the new Interstate Highway System. Then the highway system became clogged with trucks, and the railroads found a new niche concentrating on bulk goods.

Then the railroads spun off unprofitable branch lines to short line operators, and concentrated on hook-and-haul.

Today the freight railroads are all making a lot of money and are putting a lot of money into expanding their infrastructure. The latest issue of "Trains" magazine lists how much the Class I railroads are putting into capital expenditures this year. It's a lot.

[DannyTN]

I know you have. I think Willie got the boot a couple of years ago. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a train promotion article.

[Mycroft Holmes]

<img src="http://www.3monkeysports.com/photos/items/10433_1.jpg" width=80%> Yields:

[Olog-hai]

There is not enough demand for trains with average speeds of 40 miles per hour between major cities. Intercity trains of the past at least ran at average speeds of 60 mph, sometimes faster; on the so-called “Northeast Corridor”, they run at average speeds of 70 to 82 mph, but still could go faster with the right technology.

Before Amtrak was created, there was more than twice the number of trains running intercity, BTW. Regulations and taxation ate into private railroads’ bottom lines, not permitting them to compete with other modes—and this is still the case today.

[MrB]

OK, that was funny right there...

[doorgunner69]

Not read the article, but when I was a kid it was said the Teamsters union was the root of the train system demise.

[Paladin2]

Freight cars seem to spend most of their time sitting around.

[Publius]

It’s not train promotion. It’s a look into a convoluted mess.

[Jolla]

LOL, due to Govt involvement, next question.

[Olog-hai]

Interesting tidbit of railroad history: a lot of railroad companies had peaceful management-labor relations without unions, and it was actually the federal government that forced unionization in a lot of cases, especially (IINM) because of Woodrow Wilson’s USRA (railroad nationalization).

[Publius]

The various rail brotherhoods represent train employees. The Teamsters aren’t players in this game.

[bicyclerepair]

We know why the gubmint is so into trains. They want to control where, who etc. simple.

[MrB]

Amtrak’s route map is basically a star pattern out of Chicago.
To get from point A to point B, you gotta go through Chicago.

[Publius]

Classification yards are inconvenient but necessary. It’s how the cars get hooked to the correct train.

[PGR88]

the US Government could spend $10 Trillion on trains, and they wouldn’t work properly.

[MrB]

Same reason they prefer a few big businesses to many small businesses - easier to control.