Bob2, I appreciate your comments on this board. They get people thinking.
So, a question to you; since the government has let the mega mergers happen, if we did decide that it's a bad thing, how can it be reversed?
Just demanding that the companies split up into the pre-merger pieces may not work. The infrastructure that made the individual railroads operate (shops, offices, dispatching centers) in many cases does not exist anymore. I guess it can be rebuilt but it seems that the result would be financially strapped operations like how the SP was after the SPSF merger was rejected. We want the railroads to survive and do well. We wouldn't want to put them in a situation where they are positioned to go bankrupt.

Is there another solution? Have the 4 major railroads control the mainlines but give smaller regional railroads trackage rights and the ability to interchange with more that one of the majors?