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Former Wall Street Journal transportation reporter Daniel Machalaba has an interesting, and some will say controversial, article appearing in September TRAINS. While we all know that Kalmbach is quite protective of its copyrighted material, I think it is within the parameters of Fair Use to list the thirteen biggest blunders (10 additional are noted in a sidebar) the railroad industry has made over the past 100 years.
1) Dysfunctional Penn Central 2) Destruction of Penn Station 3) The Burden of Rate Regulation 4) Milwaukee Road's Pacific Extension 5) SPSF Missteps towards merger 6) Rock Island's merger bid 7) Gould's ill-advised Transcon effort 8) The flawed fever for Narrow Gauge 9) Passenger over-investment 10) Reluctant embrace of Intermodal 11) Mismanaged Mega-Mergers 12) The hidden cost of joining Amtrak 13) The inertia of railroad culture
TRAINS readers, let the discussion begin. At this Forum where we gather to discuss passenger trains, #2, #9 and #12 will be of greatest interest.
Jerome Nicholson Member # 3116
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In a cold, green eyeshade way, @9 may count. As CP Prez Norris crump once said,the money spent on the Canadian was "The worst mistake we ever made. We lost millions". But were the railroads really wrong to make an effort to retain the passenger services? After all, they probably never turned a profit anyway. They were subsidised by the freight service.
yukon11 Member # 2997
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I'm interested in #13, and what exactly do they mean by railroad culture inertia.
Richard
Jerome Nicholson Member # 3116
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quote:Originally posted by yukon11: I'm interested in #13, and what exactly do they mean by railroad culture inertia.
Richard
Since I haven't read the article, I'm guessing they mean refusal to adapt to modern technologies more quickly, like the automatic coupler or keeping jobs like fireman and brakeman in existence past their obsolescence.
Gilbert B Norman Member # 1541
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The cover "blurb" says "9, 10, 12 may surprise you...". The only surprise to me is 10, Intermodal Adaption. I think the railroads moved there in tandem with the transportation industry. TOFC Piggyback has been part of the industry since the '30's. As the maritime industry moved to containers and made the traditional Longshoreman like the Locomotive Fireman, so did the railroads. The railroads have made much progress in eliminating tight clearances so double stacks can be efficiently handled.
Finally regarding 9 and 12, I've been on record regarding those points around here long before this article.
palmland Member # 4344
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GBN, I can speak to no. 10. I was a management trainee and went into the early intermodal operation which had been set up as a separate entity called Trailer Service. I thought it was the wave of the future (this was in 1970). Not so.
In 1974 with a downturn in the economy the separate group (that included sales and marketing) was abolished as "everyone knows that it doesn't make money". Most of the rest of the staff was eliminated and I and a few others became 'trailer operations' as a very minor group within the Operating Department. Often trailers were moved in the 'highly efficient' tonnage freight trains.
Not until deregulation and the late 80's after several mergers was it fully embraced again.
Eventually, John Kneiling, the Trains magazine iconoclast was proven correct.
yukon11 Member # 2997
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I took a quick peek at the Sept. TRAINS article. I guess the gist of #13 is that railroads have done too much squabbling and often haven't worked together to solve problems, thus opening the door to govt. interference and intervention.
The freights seem to be doing a much better job, according to this article from the "Politico":
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