The Oil Drum

This year the freight railroads are investing $10 billion in infrastructure improvements. The best "bang for the buck" in increasing capacity is improved signaling (decidedly NOT sexy).

I know someone who worked on extending electrification on Amtrak's (they own it) NorthEast Corridor from New Haven to Boston. As a public entity, those meetings you want added several years to implementation of a "slam dunk" decision to build.

Given the track record (pun intended) of Amtrak and the same solution in the UK (public tracks, private trains), I cannot support public ownership of mainline railroads.

Th story in Alaska (the state that gives annual rebates to their citizens) is a mixed bag for the Alaskan Railroad (Fairbanks-Anchorage).

When Japan Rail was broken up and privatized, it was an outstanding success (no real disagreement).

This is a critical issue for the survival of this country ! I do *NOT* want to screw it up with social experimentation. I would not want to depend upon Amtrak freight to get the essentials of life.

For branch lines that were about to be abandoned (see Wisconsin), I can see public ownership of the tracks, but they are slow to fix that as well (still 1/2 1920s track).

Best Hopes,

Alan

The US freight railroad industry has been quite innovative and is a world leader (despite a lack of electrification). Double stack containers, the heaviest axle loadings and heaviest rail in the world (other than an isolated mine in Australia).

The failure to get the projected freight through the Chunnel has been blamed on the French SNCF. They handle voters quite well, but freight is a real weakness for them. New reforms that allow others to use their tracks may add frieght volume to EU railroads.