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Mexican rail freight operators oppose open access legislation
If this does go forward it will provide an interesting example for the United States itself. If it “works” and is a “success” (as defined by the media and the shifting winds of politics) it will give fuel to people who want open access in the US, or at least greater competition.
Wow!!
All I can say is wait until the railroad companies quit investing, and possibly even threaten abandonment…the network would not be where it is today (welded rail, concrete ties, and CTC installed in numerous areas formerly dark territory-though the network is still predominantly dark territory) if it weren’t for the KCSM and FXE. Under government ownership the entire thing fell apart to the point that US railroads wouldn’t ship to Mexico because their cars/freight would disappear.
Open access could work, nut only if the tenant paid sufficient usage fees to provide the owner with a rate of return that justified reinvestment. However, if the tenant paid that much, they wouldn’t be able to offer the shipper a better rate than the owner does, so what is the point?
I don’t know about the regulatory climate in Mexico, but it seems to me that in the US the STB does a decent job of allowing the railroads to earn sufficient return to justify reinvestment and expansion while protecting captive shippers from gouging.
Bah humbug on XL-Keystone. The Rails are handling these products nicely, and the buyers and sellers have choices. Leave it alone…
Bah humbug on XL-Keystone. The Rails are handling these products nicely, and the buyers and sellers have choices. Leave it alone…
It will not work in todays world. Say you spent 20 million to build a rail head to a big logistics area and you own it and you figure you will make a ton of money supplying all moves to the park. Now along comes someone that decides to do a daily rental on a couple of engines and says they can charge anyone that wants their services a lot less because they have a lower overhead and the government says they have to have full access what would you do. First off I would restrict their operating window and next I would charge them a high rate of recovery for my inital outlay of investment money in ordeer to allow them unrestricted access to the customer base I created. If I was denied my rate of recovery I would do “extended maintenace windows” and spent a lot of time inspecting every piece of my rail.