A wise person in this industry once told me "No one is shipping by rail because they want to."

A colleague at another company shared he had a shipper recently tell him "I wish you would just pull up the line so I don't have to consider you as one of my shipping options."

Love fest, it ain't...


Forester Wrote:
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> It is correct that the new Fruit Growers mill is
> interested in rail shipments for not only finished
> product, but also for outbound wood chips and
> potentially inbound logs as well in the right
> economic conditions. The current status of the YW
> is most of the reason why nothing is happening,
> but also the other connecting lines as well. I
> have never seen an industry that has such an
> attitude that the customer needs them more than
> the railroad needs the customer. Most companies
> work very hard to get and keep customers. The
> railroads seem to do the opposite, with the
> exception of some short lines of course. In the
> end they are so hard to deal with that in the end
> it simply is easier to deal with a trucking
> company who gets your product to market faster and
> is more customer responsive. I hate to say it, but
> the railroad industry needs some serious
> disruptive change in its management which is
> willing to reinvent its business model. They need
> to look for leadership from outside the industry
> which is willing to innovate and not be hung up on
> the old paradigms. Maybe leaders from innovative
> companies in the tech sector, or even Fed Ex.
> There is huge potential out there for the
> railroads if they quit acting like railroads. They
> have a very bad rap with many industries and do
> little to change this reputation.