Jeff - Your view on the FIG/RA thing is about where I am. What I think it comes down to is the government as the provider of last resort, but most state governments are not interested in getting into the railroad business; they have plenty on their plates with unfunded and unfundable (given the public's understandable desire not to pay taxes) needs in the traditional road and transit realms.

Ultimately, if you want service you have to pay for it. You don't get somethin' for nuthin'. TAANSTAAFL. Etc. If the service can generate a profit (hopefully big enough to set aside money to fix things once in a while) then private businesses may be interested. If there's no significant profit to be had, and the service must be provided (which is ultimately a political decision; ghost towns have happened before), either the people affected have to get together as a cooperative or the government has to take over. Note what I said about the govt not having enough money to take care of its traditional transportation duties. Do the math. I think that RA on its own might have tried harder to make a go of CORP, but there's a very good chance they would have failed anyway.

The appearance problem here is one that RA, and railroads in general, need to work on. PR *is* important. Unless it's truly an emergency (like a storm wiping out parts of POTB) there's no excuse for just shutting things off without warning. There's little excuse for blatantly forcing actual or potential shippers to trucks resulting in a line with no traffic that can eventually be abandoned and scrapped. There are many cases (like Vallejo) where the traffic does indeed go away due to actions by others and it's prudent and reasonable for the RR to abandon the line. It's the questionable and unexplained cases that get on nerves.