Spurious Wrote:
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> I'm still fuzzy on how removing turnouts to
> inactive spurs with zero recent history of use is
> "hurting" businesses, "removing" rail service that
> didn't previously exist, or "forcing" them to use
> another means of shipping they're already using.


Hey Fuzzy,
SMART signed an agreement to replace a certain number of turnouts . Then SMART redefined the agreement stipulating each business must prove a certain volume of carloads. How much freight or potential freight the NWP might haul was never a condiction of the agreement. The freight railroad had been out of service for over ten years you would expect inactive spurs as the railroad slowly regains customers . An inactive spur hurts business because once removed the option to ship by rail is lost.
I will beat a dead horse one more time by stating that the gauntlet tracks as built with power switches, place a permanent slow order at each station as the freight trains slow to 15 mph around each station platform. Is there any other transit system in America with the mainline up against the platform and the gauntlet track built to diverge train around the station?