The economy will result in a certain amount of decreased carloadings for the railroads. It will also result in a certain amount of increased business as some shippers attempt to change transportation modes as trucking rates rise faster than rail rates. This is when the railroads get to walk the proverbial tightrope when some shipper who changed from rail to highway as his inventory patterns ("just-in-time") changed in the 80s/90s, makes the call to get a boxcar delivered. In some cases, the railroad-financed switch into the unused spur track was removed due to dis-use. What remains to be seen is how long it takes for the whining of such shippers to reach the morons in Congress--who would love to jump into something (re-regulation?) that makes them appear like they have a real solution--as opposed to doing something for the sake of doing something. Some rail lines are at or near capacity already. I am aware of a certain Class 1 in my area which is discouraging seasonal traffic on such a line. The chances of the railroads spending scarce money to lure back those fickle shippers is slim. The railroads are (or have been) spending many millions of dollars on capacity expansion projects in high volume corridors. If Amtrak comes calling to ask for another slot (or pair of slots) to run additional trains, they might be accommodated on these certain few lines. If they call about the overstuffed ones (without providing a big bucket of non-existent funds), they will be brushed off.

The traveling public is a lot like the fickle shipper. "We" grew impatient when it was decided that it took too long to take the train when we could either take a plane or use the nice highway system that the wonderful government built for us out of the goodness of their hearts. The railroads were discovering that it was in their best interest to become the most efficient method of moving bulk freight over long distances. The wonderful example of "The European system" would not work on this continent. This country is too big in comparison to the more densely-populated Europe. Our system moves freight and bulk. NOW, "we" look at a rail option following 911 and the nightmare of air travel and the expense of traveling by car with $4 gasoline. We want our multi-option rail system with its European-type frequency--but it just ain't going to be there, whether we like it or not. "We" gave up on rail passenger service in the 60's because our parents liked the other options better. The ONLY rail system that we could EVER expect (make that "hope for") is a dedicated high-speed system (a la Bullet, TGV, etc). Maybe we can build it with the money that we save from buying gasoline. The benevolent Congress might promise it, but nobody can really afford to build it--except maybe the Chinese, because we have made them rich by buying their junk for the last 15 years and they basically own us (when they get around to calling in their debt). Congress (both rotten, good-for-nothing parties) spent us into oblivion by "bringing home the pork" so that we would re-elect them. If they promise us a passenger rail system, they are lying to us (again).

How's that for being cynical???????