Re: Mid Terms
Author: Poor Richard
Date: 11-06-2014 - 05:33
Tom Rawson Wrote:
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> >
> What did LBJ do to put the last nail in the coffin
> of privately run passenger rail service?
LBJ's tenure saw the discontinuance of first class mail haulage by passenger train (anybody here remember when sending a letter via air mail was an additional charge over first class postage?). The mail business is what kept many passenger trains running. This happened in 1967, causing a surge in passenger train discontinuances, and for several railroads was the last nail in the coffin for their passenger carriage. That Amtrak began four years later seems no coincidence.