What would be the show stoppers would be the impossibility of convincing Wall Street to provide the money (“You want to lay down tracks so you can get involved in a rate war with a Class I?”) and the political impossibility of providing taxpayer money to fund private corporations (Yes, yes, I know all about the support the truckers and airlines get, but try and get traction with the voters. To use the trendy expression it’s all about the “optics”)
SUCKER !!
Reciprocal switching is really only an option for those shippers who already “almost” have two rail shipping options. In many parts of Canada only one carrier is available, and the only realistic option is to use that carrier or another mode like road or ship. But it does seem to work… the truckers keep a lid on how high rates can go. The railroads can’t really charge more than the truckers can charge, and the trucking rates are kept competitive because (unlike rail) there are lots of trucking companies… hundreds of them specializing in any given lane, thereby keeping rates competitive.
Isn’t the linked article about the government forcing the railroads to lower their rates? Shouldn’t that make the RRs more price-competitive with trucks?
Ever since trucks became a viable alternative to rail in the 1920s/30s the ICC has shown to set rates higher than what trucking can offer; it wasn’t until deregulation in the late 70s and 80s where rail rates started dropping after the ICC gave them their ability to negotiate with shippers directly instead of having to base their rates off of predetermined charts.
So we’ve been here before, can’t say I trust the STB when they say they’re going to lower rates; I’m in favor of letting markets figuring out what fair rates are on a case by case basis
Just me, but I feel that the current admin sincerely wants to do whatever it can to curb inevitable inflation.
So many businesses are taking advantage of the pandemic to gouge consumers, that I think the gov’t is gonna squeeze hard to try and wrestle control.
That’s what I think is fueling this story.
I think you just summarized the DM&E fiasco.
The idiot sock puppet needs something to distract people from son Hunter’s $500,000 paintings.
There is much more to fear from big government than from the railroads and steamship lines.
Mac
The “business” that really needs scaling down is the govermnent.
WSOR gets anything it wants in Wisconsin. Laying new track? No problem the state says, “how much do you need?”. Though WSOR is very careful it has a long-term (10+ years or more) haulage contract on new track that also has other potential. I am pretty certain we will see further expansion of WSOR via new rail in the next 10 years but not sure how much.
Nobody cares about his son other than the “what abouters”. He’s not a government official, unlike some who have been accused or charged for working for other governments.
But he is the child of a government official, definitely more than accused or charged of working for another government, perhaps with some influence more than ‘implied’ to get what he wanted. Every excuse in a storm!
Of course I expect this all to start “coming to light” about a year from now, in time for the first Harris administration to start safely after Jan 24 2023… but not long after that date.
Now back to railroading of the actual sort!
I see nothing ‘awful’ here – the issues of equity and fairness for all shippers being a major ‘incentive’ for past regulation, and reciprocal-switching rights even if artificially controlled being far less intrusive than the arrogant misregulation of the bloated post-1920 ICC. I don’t think the sky is falling and an evil ‘leftist-socialist cabal’ sees this as the camel’s nose to the happy world of soak-the-railroads that was played in not-so-recent but still-vivid memory.
That said: something the Biden and Harris administrations are going to need, badly, in a couple of years will be strong corporations and enough rich of the ‘wrong’ sort to soak for all the programs they’d like to run, and PSR railroads and their ‘principals’ are an increasingly attractive target… and to be honest I’m coming not to see that as a bad thing.
The likely problem as I see it is the same as in the Eastman years: the people making the stranded-fair-shipping-rate policies are more likely to be lawyers than logistics people. And to think that Procrustean solutions (like Tier 4 final as applied to locomotive engines) are the expedient way to achieve what they want.
Why is it that the right wingers/Trumpers on here think their highly political and often offensive posts are just fine but they go running to the moderator as soon as someone progressive responds?
Whether we like it or not, this is an explicitly political topic, and it may be an indication of priorities to be applied to the freight railroad industry. I do not think President Biden is nearly as pro-freight-railroading as he is pro-passenger, and (as I think I said) I am not averse to his using public policy to deal with some… more rather than less… of the distortions caused by abuse of the idea of “PSR”. That is the focus that I think we should concentrate on, or at least take up seriously, in this sort of thread going forward.
Let’s have some civil discourse in this conversation…These two comments above me are why threads get locked… I’m asking you all to refrain from personal political attacks and name calling. How you feel about the political arena is obviously your choice, and we are not going to agree with certain actions by the government. We’re discussing why the govt. need not get involved in rates as it does not have OPEX (operation expenses) to make the judgement on how rates should be set in the free market… Please stay on the subject…
Exactly my point, illustrated in spades by the rightist above with his pejorative.
I see we cross-posted. Amended accordingly. As you have quoted the original for reference, I have no hesitation in removing the ‘personal’ from the post in question.
I look forward to further reading your opinions on the actual topic of civil railroad-related discourse.
You are attacking me for my post? Straw man? Apparently you have no clue what you are talking about. Several posters on the right (I was not specifically referring to you, but you think "the son
[quote user=“charlie hebdo”]
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The idiot sock puppet needs something to distract people from son Hunter’s $500,000 paintings.
Mac
charlie hebdo
Why is it that the right wingers/Trumpers on here think their highly political and often offensive posts are just fine but they go running to the moderator as soon as someone progressive responds?
Let’s have some civil discourse in this conversation…This above me is why threads get locked… I’d like people to refrain from personal political attacks and name calling. How you feel about the political arena is obviously your choice, and we are not going to agree with certain actions by the government. We’re discussing why the govt. need not get involved in rates as it does not have OPEX (operation expenses) to make the judgement on how rates should be set in the free market… Stay on the subject…
You make my point. Double standard. I said nothing offensive but you lump me in the same pocket as MAC who used political insults. Very different.
I realize that progressives are a minority on here, partly because of the double standard and many have chosen to depart and let the rightists prevail in at least this one pipsqueak arena as a majority.