Railroad Bailout May Offer a Model for Detroit

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/16/railroad-bailout-may-offer-a-model-for-detroit/

[pasted text of the entire article was removed by selector for copyright violation]

And who has said anything about a railroad bailout? Conrail was but no others are under consideration nor have been suggested. Conrail’s predecessor companies did not have huge numbers of officials and manager walking away with billions of dollars stashed in thier pockets like AIG or other high financiers have done. And where will the bailout money go for the auto manufacturers? Supporting and rewarding management teams that have made bad decsions over the past decades? Will the money just support the same old same old? Auto manufactureres have not provided us with any concrete plans on how they will be different, what they will do different. Compare that to what rail is asking for today: for help for future infractructure costs but they have also brought things to the table. Railroads are not planning on running off with billions of dollars to feather personnel nests but rather for monies to work into the overall transportation system of the country. Transportation planners in highway and rail sectors have all spoken of this approach to construction and repair as a viable need for the country to continue and grow economically and in and enviromentally sound way. No. Railroads have suggested monies be spend on specific projects in conjunction with, supplimental to, and complimental to, an overall transportation system. There are no bonuses being stuffed into the pockets of those who failed to perform but rather to well thought out, defined and planned projects to benifet transportation for all sectors of the economy and population

Hmmmmm… So then what? Toyota and Honda would quit operating here, and Americans would be more likely to buy American cars?[:-,] ( Sorry- the [}:)] made me do it.)

Awesome!: You really need to find a book and read about ConRail, and how things really panned out. Until you have some grasp of that situation, most of what you think about ConRail can be seen as wishfull thinking and historical revisionism.

The OP (Original Post) appear to be copied and pasted from the linked NY Times column, not created by Awesome! Still, the column seems devoid of some key facts and parallels and distinctions. While that may have been from space and time constraints, the column seems more intent on repeating its thesis than correllating it more clearly and in detail between the 2 situations. There is no sign that the author is more than superficially similar with CR’s history - no mention of the Staggers Deregulation Act, for example, which changed the landscape of the railroad business (and I believe was largely instigated by CR’s L. Stanley Crane) so as to assure its success - probably the most significant single factor in achieving that. I’m not aware of any potential “deregulation” parallel in the auto industry (except maybe scrapping the CAFE* standards ? [:-,] ). Also, CR had the benefit of almost 6 years of at least some kind of “preparation” - 1970 to 1976, and the “second” USRA (United States Railway Administration) and its development and circulation of its Preliminary and Final System Plans - you had to have been there or seen it up cloise and at the same time to appreciate it all. The most popular current reference book on this is The Men Who Loved Trains: The Story of Men Who Battled Greed to Save an Ailing Industry, by Rush Loving, Jr. . Anyway, the OP’s exposition would benefit from a more structured organization and discussion of each specfic point - time limits preclude me from attempting that, though. This reads more like a “shotgun” approach to it. And it doesn’t appear to mention the parallel that during the early years of CR’s reorganization, Chrysler too went through its own Federal bailout, where Lee Iacocca (Allentown native) was brought in from Ford to turn Chrysler around, in which he was quite successful.

Once again, I did not write this article and you should read the below statement on the author before making statement like that amigo. [banghead]

Fair enough . I did read the article. The reason I said what I did, is that in the past, you have repeatedly suggested that ConRail was a great and wonderfull solution to a problem. It wasn’t. It was a costly, although neccesary evil. In posting the article, (copyright infringement and all), you seem to be perpetuating your thoughts about how great a deal ConRail was for the country. No, ConRail would not be a model for Detroit. Amigo=friend.