NARP submits brief to Supreme Court in PRIIA case

[Phil S]

Even the brief stumbles in its presentation. The performance metrics should not be Amtrak's but should be of the FRA. That is the primary issue at hand. Amtrak may have an advisory role but certainly should not have the power to veto.Just IMHO of course.

I agree with George. This position is utterly wrong headed and won't help anything. For once I find myself in the odd position where I am hoping that the part of the court that I love to hate, does what it is expected to do. Sigh....

I agree the the law was poorly crafted. But wasn't it better than nothing? I seriously doubt Amtrak would use its veto power to treat the Class 1s any worse than the Class 1s are treating Amtrak. More importantly, don't we all agree that we need functional LD pax rail in this country? If so, then how can the lawsuit hurt? Hurt the Class 1's feelings? Why should we care? As for the merits of the suit, I can't offer an opinion. Seems like everything said is true but whether or not the wording will work in a court of law? Not a clue.

Just my opinion.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

The economy is not back. Anybody who thinks that is either psychotic or in denial.

 

[neroden]

The Canadian and northern US bumper crops are definitely another cause of overloading. Another *predictable and predicted* cause. (This is due to global warming, folks...)

 

[gmushial]

If the four major railroads added so much capacity that they would accommodate the economy at full-tilt, the railroads would be economically inefficient at other times -- and when railroads have to compete with trucks and barges for business, that does matter.

Well, there is another alternative, which apparently all other major railroads in the world have figured out. That is to no accept loads beyond what can be reasonably carried. Manage demand that is put on the system. The fact is that many US railroads are irresponsibly greedy landing themselves into these messes repeatedly. They really don;t care much about whether they meet their part of any service level agreements that they sign off on, and hope they can get away with it. Effective monopolies granted to them by we the people has this as an inevitable consequence. Another case of too big to bring to heal.

Or, maybe they need to rethink how they schedule and utilize the track resource... seems given how they're currently using it, the utilization is quite low.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

It seems to me that your view on the efficiency of their use indicates you have no future in a transportation logistics job.

 

[NE933]

One territory I can think of poor capacity is CSX's north-south lines from Virginia thru Florida. I don't remember which was the A and which was the S, but one or both was single tracked decades ago, and the remainder has deferred maintainance. Fixing that would resolve lots of capacity issues, and passenger ride quality, on the Eastern seaboard. The route of the Silver Meteor has patchwork track renewal: one moment we're on track that's bumpy as hell, the next smooth as silk. Some draw bridges are bad, too: a friend of mine new to Amtrak travel joked when we crossed a bridge and we're almost thrown off our seats, that it was a good thing some boats were nearby. These two parallel lines have seen more than their share of derailment in the last decade, and should be taken as warning signs of the need to fix the tracks now, as well as restore the second track pulled up long ago.

 

[gmushial]

It seems to me that your view on the efficiency of their use indicates you have no future in a transportation logistics job.

If maximizing under-utilization is a requirement, then probably sadly true ;-) No... what I observe is the amount of time that one could perfectly safely wander up and down the UP mainline through here (RDD) - which is suppose to be the main connecting link btwn CA and the PNW; and likewise, then I listen to the scanner, those rails sit rusting a whole lot more than anything else. ... yup, extrapolating from a single data point is always dangerous, but this single data point is supposed to be an important one... just wondering if scheduling unit trains, or around other 104 car trains is really an optimal way of doing things - clearly for Brakken oil or coil trains, yes; but for other usage, one has to wonder if more, smaller trains wouldn't be easier to fill, to schedule etc??

 

[neroden]

One territory I can think of poor capacity is CSX's...

CSX has developed a reputation for lack of maintenance. CSX's undermaintenance caused a spate of derailments on the Empire Corridor a few years ago which led to US Senators investigating (/grandstanding). They've been a little better on the Empire Corridor since getting *that* spotlight, but they still have a reputation as the road that does minimal maintenance.
(Despite the lack of maintenance, CSX claims that keeping dirt access paths for maintenance trucks next to the railroad -- rather than reinstating tracks -- is vital, vital to them. Which it obviously isn't, given that there are rarely any maintenance trucks; they can buy some hi-railers to use in the rare occasion when they actually maintain tracks. Based on "highest and best use" principles, they should be taxed on those dirt paths as if they had tracks.)

 

[gmushial]

One territory I can think of poor capacity is CSX's...

CSX has developed a reputation for lack of maintenance. CSX's undermaintenance caused a spate of derailments on the Empire Corridor a few years ago which led to US Senators investigating (/grandstanding). They've been a little better on the Empire Corridor since getting *that* spotlight, but they still have a reputation as the road that does minimal maintenance.
(Despite the lack of maintenance, CSX claims that keeping dirt access paths for maintenance trucks next to the railroad -- rather than reinstating tracks -- is vital, vital to them. Which it obviously isn't, given that there are rarely any maintenance trucks; they can buy some hi-railers to use in the rare occasion when they actually maintain tracks. Based on "highest and best use" principles, they should be taxed on those dirt paths as if they had tracks.)

Care to expand on this, or provide some links so that one can read more... ? many thanks, greg