I'm proud to be part of the family - From the publisher - personal account: 33 years of railroad history - Brief Article

Railway Age, Nov, 2001

Robert P. DeMarco

I've spent the past 33 years of my business life in the publishing side of this great industry. The railway industry has been good to me. I've known some fine people over the years, many of whom became good friends, some of whom are no longer with us. And over the years, what has impressed me the most is the sense of family that railroading has always embodied, more so now that there's been so much consolidation.

A sense of family: It's true whether you're the employee running a train, the operating or marketing executive at headquarters, or the supplier trying to build a better component. It's mainly why I've stayed in the business for so long, and expect to be around for some time to come.

I've witnessed many changes over the years. When I started in 1968, there were around 70 Class I railroads (though under different reporting rules than exist today), numerous freight car builders, hundreds of component suppliers, and a passenger rail industry that was fast fading away. Train crews rode cabooses, and the most powerful locomotives produced 3,000 hp.

But technological innovations were just around the corner, the focus of intense research and development, and the subject of much debate about the changes they would bring.

Thanks largely to the industry's innovative suppliers, the changes took hold, one by one. End-of-train devices replaced cabooses. Reliable AEI (Automatic Equipment Identification) replaced the trouble-plagued, barcode-based ACI (Automatic Car Identification, which didn't work because the barcodes couldn't be read when a freight car got dirty). Locomotive horsepower doubled, and tractive effort and availability reached new heights. Freight cars got lighter, stronger, and higher in gross rail load capability. Mechanized, high-production maintenance-of-way machines made it possible for railroads to accomplish more trackwork in less time. Distributed power allowed them to run longer, heavier trains. CTC and computer-aided dispatching improved operating flexibility and efficiency. Most important, the industry's safety record improved dramatically.

How long will it take before the newest wave of technology--electropneumatic braking, communications-based train control, onboard fault detection, remote control--becomes standard practice? Not long, I think, even in an industry that's been traditionally slow to embrace change.

History, of course, does tend to repeat itself. In my career, I've seen the short lines and regionals come into their own, following a long period of Class I spinoffs that followed an even longer period when the bigger carriers were absorbing as many independents as they could. Passenger rail is once again a growth industry, though under far different circumstances from when services were provided by for-profit, private companies.

This industry has absorbed its share of criticism, some of it justified, some of it not (we've shrunk too much, we care more about next quarter's share price than our customers, there aren't enough experienced people around, we're a 19th Century industry trying to function in a 21st Century economy, etc.). But we must be doing something right. If we weren't, why would so many railroads around the globe want our expertise and technology?

Many years ago, well before the megamergers of the 1990s, Time magazine published a cover story on the railroad industry. The cover graphics were stark but revealing: two criss-crossing railroad tracks, one running top to bottom, the other, left to right. Time posed the question of the industry consolidating into two transcontinental railroads. We haven't quite reached having just two major carriers, but we're very close. Change is inevitable, as I've learned in my 33 years in this industry.

As you read through our observations about the future of railroading in these pages, consider these points: Is more consolidation what we really want? What we really need? Who will be the next leaders of this great industry?

One constant, though, has been the role of the media. It's a great feeling to be with the industry leaders--Railway Age, Railway Track Structures, and International Railway Journal. Happy 125th, Railway Age. To our readers and advertisers, thank you for the support you've given over the years.

Now let's look to the future, and consider how this industry will shape the next 125 years.