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Re: "Are You Being Railroaded" by Sungnome Madrone
Author: falcon
Date: 01-27-2008 - 12:13
I couldn't tell from the title of this string what it was about and so, being the curious person I am, I read everything in it. Before I go downstairs for a much needed libation (yes, it is cause and effect), let me throw in a couple of observations.
This string has to do with an article questioning whether the old Northwestern Pacific Railroad (which hasn't been operated since FRA shut it down in 1998)should be reopened, or used for a trail. I share some of the questions about this article that have been raised by other posters. For example, the business about needing vast suspension bridges and other heroic measures costing billions seems to ignore the fact that the railroad operated through most of the 20th century without such measures. True, it required lots of maintenance (particularly in the Eel River Canyon,) but it was able to be kept in operation most of the time.
But the question of whether vast amounts of public funds should be used to rebuild and operate this railroad is a legitimate one. Obviously, the railroad in its latter years wasn't capable of supporting itself - that's the reason it couldn't be maintained and had to be shut down. And it's the reason that previous schemes to reopen it have come to naught. The railroad has now been shut down for 10 years. The former shippers that used it have made adjustments long ago, and most will probably not come back to NWP if it reopens. That means a reopened NWP is likely to handle even less traffic than it handled before the shutdown, so it will be even less able to support itself than it was before. It also means that the railroad will likely require a continuing stream of public funding to remain in operations (sort of like the gift that keeps giving, only in reverse).
I don't have a whole lot of sympathy for the NIMBY opposition this project seems to have generated, or for judges who attempt to substitute their views for the decisions of elected officials. But, to me, this isn't (or shouldn't be) a NIMBY question. It's a question of whether reviving and operating this long dead railroad is a good use of public funds. I think it is very clearly a waste of public funds and, if the railroad is reopened, it will not stay open for very long.
This string has to do with an article questioning whether the old Northwestern Pacific Railroad (which hasn't been operated since FRA shut it down in 1998)should be reopened, or used for a trail. I share some of the questions about this article that have been raised by other posters. For example, the business about needing vast suspension bridges and other heroic measures costing billions seems to ignore the fact that the railroad operated through most of the 20th century without such measures. True, it required lots of maintenance (particularly in the Eel River Canyon,) but it was able to be kept in operation most of the time.
But the question of whether vast amounts of public funds should be used to rebuild and operate this railroad is a legitimate one. Obviously, the railroad in its latter years wasn't capable of supporting itself - that's the reason it couldn't be maintained and had to be shut down. And it's the reason that previous schemes to reopen it have come to naught. The railroad has now been shut down for 10 years. The former shippers that used it have made adjustments long ago, and most will probably not come back to NWP if it reopens. That means a reopened NWP is likely to handle even less traffic than it handled before the shutdown, so it will be even less able to support itself than it was before. It also means that the railroad will likely require a continuing stream of public funding to remain in operations (sort of like the gift that keeps giving, only in reverse).
I don't have a whole lot of sympathy for the NIMBY opposition this project seems to have generated, or for judges who attempt to substitute their views for the decisions of elected officials. But, to me, this isn't (or shouldn't be) a NIMBY question. It's a question of whether reviving and operating this long dead railroad is a good use of public funds. I think it is very clearly a waste of public funds and, if the railroad is reopened, it will not stay open for very long.
