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Re: Some thoughts about the plight of Oregon Shortlines
Author: Dave Smith
Date: 01-12-2008 - 12:38
How about the State of Oregon taking over the "shortline" problem following the example of the State of Washington, with one major exception: Do so with the Prime Directive of mandating competitive connections with both UP and BNSF!
A major problem with the Eastern Washington takeover is that the on-line shippers are still captive to the originating Class I owner of the lines. Until the trestle fire near Colfax took place, the ex-BN lines had a physical connection to the ex-UP lines, and it would have made sense for grain shippers on the ex-BN line to be able to ship thier grain via UP, PCC, or state-owned hoppers to the barge terminal at Wallula.
What Oregon would need to do is:
1. Take over ownership of all four lines (assuming long term viability of each line) via Eminent Domain.
2. Further extend the act of Eminent Domain to take over any Class I trackage that would need to be accessed to allow operators of the shortlines to interchange with both UP and BNSF, e.g. competitive rail access.
3. Use mostly in-state generated revenues to rehab the shortlines into functional entities.
4. Franchise operations of each line to the highest bidder for a certain period of time - If shippers are satisfied with the level of service after a period of time, the franchise can be renewed. If not, bid out operations to some other shortline operator.
The key here is the concept of competitive rail access. There is nothing more enraging to local and state economic development authorities than to spend millions in taxpayer dollars (putting their necks on the line) to aid or take over branchlines from Class I's via shortline proxies, only to have the captive shortline operator end up charging sky high monopolistic rates which discourage economic development in the first place. There is no excuse for the perversion of captive domestic rail shippers being charged 300% R/VC rates to effectively cross-subsidize ISO double stack containers from overseas at rates under the STB's 180% R/VC threshold.
Hopefully, the feds will enact certain provisions of rail-related legislation that will eliminate the railroads' current anti-trust exemptions, and end this nonsense once and for all. My two cents.
A major problem with the Eastern Washington takeover is that the on-line shippers are still captive to the originating Class I owner of the lines. Until the trestle fire near Colfax took place, the ex-BN lines had a physical connection to the ex-UP lines, and it would have made sense for grain shippers on the ex-BN line to be able to ship thier grain via UP, PCC, or state-owned hoppers to the barge terminal at Wallula.
What Oregon would need to do is:
1. Take over ownership of all four lines (assuming long term viability of each line) via Eminent Domain.
2. Further extend the act of Eminent Domain to take over any Class I trackage that would need to be accessed to allow operators of the shortlines to interchange with both UP and BNSF, e.g. competitive rail access.
3. Use mostly in-state generated revenues to rehab the shortlines into functional entities.
4. Franchise operations of each line to the highest bidder for a certain period of time - If shippers are satisfied with the level of service after a period of time, the franchise can be renewed. If not, bid out operations to some other shortline operator.
The key here is the concept of competitive rail access. There is nothing more enraging to local and state economic development authorities than to spend millions in taxpayer dollars (putting their necks on the line) to aid or take over branchlines from Class I's via shortline proxies, only to have the captive shortline operator end up charging sky high monopolistic rates which discourage economic development in the first place. There is no excuse for the perversion of captive domestic rail shippers being charged 300% R/VC rates to effectively cross-subsidize ISO double stack containers from overseas at rates under the STB's 180% R/VC threshold.
Hopefully, the feds will enact certain provisions of rail-related legislation that will eliminate the railroads' current anti-trust exemptions, and end this nonsense once and for all. My two cents.
