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Re: Is RR antitrust exemption near the end of the line?
Author: Dave Smith
Date: 05-09-2008 - 14:04
How many tons of coal move by the Interstate Highway System?
When was the last time you saw a grain truck in long haul service?
How many containers move from LA to Chicago by truck?
This idea that the Interstate Highway system is "competition" for the railroads is nonsensical. Railroads succeed via amalgamation, something you can't do with any highway vehicles I know of, unless of course the items being amalgamated are truck trailers. If anything, the advent of the modern highway system has allowed railroads to jettison line hauls of marginal value and thus concentrate on what they do best. The railroads owe a debt of gratitude to our modern highway system, since it may have kept them from extinction.
Since we've established the obvious differentiation of rail vs highway, then it does become quite clear that vast swaths of the USA are under monopolistic control of the railroads for amalgamated shipments.
And if regulated renters have not succeeded in the marketplace as you alluded to, how is it that such utilities have been such great investments over the years? We've lost so many railroads to bankruptcy, merger, and retrenchment - how many utilities have we lost?
When was the last time you saw a grain truck in long haul service?
How many containers move from LA to Chicago by truck?
This idea that the Interstate Highway system is "competition" for the railroads is nonsensical. Railroads succeed via amalgamation, something you can't do with any highway vehicles I know of, unless of course the items being amalgamated are truck trailers. If anything, the advent of the modern highway system has allowed railroads to jettison line hauls of marginal value and thus concentrate on what they do best. The railroads owe a debt of gratitude to our modern highway system, since it may have kept them from extinction.
Since we've established the obvious differentiation of rail vs highway, then it does become quite clear that vast swaths of the USA are under monopolistic control of the railroads for amalgamated shipments.
And if regulated renters have not succeeded in the marketplace as you alluded to, how is it that such utilities have been such great investments over the years? We've lost so many railroads to bankruptcy, merger, and retrenchment - how many utilities have we lost?
