http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aqiPjahphRKQ
Interesting on a couple of levels. The graphics(MOW equip. closeup) in the background, obviously, the excerpt was a "puff’ piece. In the lead in, the announcer mentions “Burlington Northern Santa Fe” . Several years back when the railroad introduced itself as the “BNSF”, supposedly, the initials stood for nothing; only to be the identifier for that particular railroad. The full post-merger name was to be dropped, with the initials the preference. It kind of opens the door to pure speculation; what is the next identity the railroad will morph into, if any change at all? [:-,]
I still like the much more interesting Railway Age interview of some weeks ago. LInked here from this Forum: http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/p/167689/1842373.aspx#1842373 Much more interesting for in-depth.
But with the BNSF going ‘private’ I suspect that we will all be looking for info, possibly less available from the ‘new’ BNSF.
John: The railroad changed its name to BNSF Railway on January 24, 2005. The holding corporation was/is Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation.
I think the interesting thing here was Rose understanding the need for railroads to communicate their mission to the general public and Congress. Unanswered is why? I think we may start seeing some federal bonding assistance down the road for electrification.
While your observation may be correct, I can not immagine why ever anyone would think that was good public policy. What the industry needs first and foremost is to be able to make its own rates. That most basic need is under threat. Next is no unfunded mandates. They are staring down the barell of PTC, which has very low ROI. Next is accellerated depreciation to encourage investment and lower income taxes. Next is for government to pay for services it demands, which is passenger related. Amtrak now gets a free ride on the freight carriers for legacy routes.
What Rose said was “Congress does not pay much attention to us because they do not appropriate money to us.” What he meant was “We are not nearly as good a source of campaign funds as all of the interests who support the airline system and build highways.”
Mac