Commentary
Texas choo-choo a pain on the range
I wish I may, I wish I might, I wish to be an interstate passenger railroad tonight.
I wish I may, I wish I might, I wish to be an interstate passenger railroad tonight.
National Transportation Policy mandates that railroads be managed efficiently. While railroad performance is reflective of improvement, some railroads excel, with the reasons increasingly under digital scrutiny by activist money managers entrusted with investments of foundations, endowments and pension funds seeking superior returns.
News item: Executive Order No. 13725, issued April 15 by President Obama, and published in the April 20 Federal Register, mandates that Executive Branch federal agencies take specific actions to promote competition.
In a letter to the Surface Transportation Board filed April 13, 2016, CSX contends that “giving Amtrak trains absolute priority over the old RF&P (Washington-Richmond) upends commuter train operations, drastically limits the number of available slots for freight trains, and likely results in congestion on tracks and in yards that would ripple through the network,” says Frank N. Wilner, Contibuting Editor of Railway Age.
For those sheltering railroads against assaults on regulatory freedoms, the 1980 Staggers Rail Act (Staggers) is considered sacrosanct.
The chasing by suitor Canadian Pacific of grand dame Norfolk Southern has reintroduced to the railroad chattering classes the nebulous term “public interest,” used often and broadly when mergers and other railroad maneuvers requiring regulatory approval are afoot.
Boston to Washington, D.C. It’s a megalopolis of technology innovators, prestigious universities, corporate headquarters, a global financial hub, a score of professional sports teams, tourist attractions, Congress and a maze of executive branch and independent regulatory agencies—a region of 56 million whose productivity and quality of life depend significantly on efficient intercity transportation.
Former late-night talk show host David Letterman often said, “I wouldn’t give those troubles to a monkey on a rock.” Tag, you’re it, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
Washington is a rat hole worth watching because, as the politically savvy know, lawmakers and regulators can inflict unexpected, unprovoked and unjustified wounds.
News item: Canadian Pacific (CP) is pursuing a hostile takeover of Norfolk Southern (NS). CP is asking the U.S. Justice Department to investigate whether NS and other U.S.-based major railroads—some of which oppose the takeover—are unlawfully conspiring for “the primary purpose of restraining trade.” CP says “fear of competition does not justify the collective action of competitors.” Yet the Supreme Court long ago ruled that “joint efforts to influence public officials, such as railroad regulators, do not violate the antitrust laws even though intended to eliminate competition.”