Opinion

Commentary

The “Baking” of Short Line Sustenance

WATCHING WASHINGTON, RAILWAY AGE DECEMBER 2019 ISSUE: Kermit the Frog won our hearts singing “lovers, the dreamers and me,” while Thomas the Tank Engine’s “yes we can” encouraged us and Barack Obama’s “Audacity of Hope” inspired us. These words also describe small-railroad entrepreneurs providing the first and last mile for one of every five carloads.

Commentary

Missed Signs of a Freight Rail Slowdown?

Here is a different perspective regarding the decline in U.S. rail carloads, and how long ago it may have started. Lee A. Clair, Managing Partner at Transportation and Logistics Advisors (T&LA, Highland Park, Ill.) originally authored these observations.

Commentary

Every U.S. Transit System, Every Line: A User’s Perspective

This article is like no other that I have ever written for Railway Age, or any other publication. It is about a personal transit accomplishment like no other. This piece is not a commentary in the traditional sense, nor is it a news story, because nobody else is making news here. It is an essay; a personal look at America’s rail transit from the standpoint of a person who has ridden every line on every system that is currently operating in the nation. So, for this one occasion, I will set aside the journalistically correct title of “this writer” and deliver my comments in the non-journalistic style of first-person-singular.

Commentary

Impeachment Saved ICC/STB Independence

While talk of Presidential impeachment is difficult to avoid, probably few can recite how the impeachment of a federal judge in 1912 helped to secure the independence of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) and its Surface Transportation Board (STB) successor.

Commentary

STB: Heed Seriously the Yak Fat Ghost

On 74 acres in central Virginia, there graze for commercial production some two-dozen Himalayan yaks—a largely fat-free, shaggy, handlebar-horned and oft cantankerous animal first imported to North America during the 19th century. If the connection of yak and its fat to transportation economic regulation is not obvious, blame your youth, as more than half a century has passed since the Great Yak Fat Caper of 1965 entered railroad lore—a dirty-trickster’s fraud now indelibly stained on the Interstate Commerce Commission’s (ICC) reputation, and, by association, its Surface Transportation Board (STB) successor.

Commentary

Amtrak Dining Cars as Profit Centers

One of the great hurrahs of Amtrak dining cars came in the late 1990s, when the transcontinental Sunset Limited diner featured 12 entrees on its dinner menu. Traditional white linen tablecloths draped the tables, along with china plates and stainless-steel cutlery. It was not unusual to have flowers on the table and lit candles at the dinner hour.

Commentary

HS2 Advances BIM and GIS Integration

The United Kingdom Department for Transport has embarked on a world-leading infrastructure project. By the 2030s, London will connect to Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester via a new rail line with 18 trains per hour traveling at speeds up to 225 mph. The line, High Speed 2 (HS2), builds upon the more-than 15-year success of HS1, which carries 20 million passengers per year through the Channel Tunnel between the U.K. and Continental Europe.

Commentary

The Best Ticket is No Ticket

The ticketing industry is continuously evolving, and it’s not just the type of physical ticket that is changing but the very notion that many passengers don’t even want one or need one, and certainly don’t want to wait in line to purchase a piece of custom media from their transit agency.

Commentary

Amtrak vs. Freight Railroads: Shippers, You Are Impacted!

A headline story says that U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has introduced a bill that would allow Amtrak to sue the freight railroads for preventing Amtrak from meeting suitable on-time performance standards. The senator alleges, “By empowering Amtrak to hold the freight railroads accountable … we can improve Amtrak’s on-time performance and save taxpayer dollars. The people of Illinois—and Amtrak riders nationwide—deserve assurance that they can arrive at their destination in a safe and timely manner.”

Commentary

STB Needs To Get Real

Dr. William Huneke, Consulting Economist, offered his opinion in the Railway Age report STB “Whack a Mole.” As he pointed out, the Surface Transportation Board in the past rarely had time or staff to do more than react to the latest rate case, stakeholder petition or Congressional request. He described a sense of Whack a Mole in the flurry of STB regulatory reform proposals, particularly STB’s tinkering with the industry cost of capital calculation.

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