Letters - Letter to the Editor

Railway Age, March, 2002

Challenge and response

Belmont, Calif.

To the Editor:

The December 2001 article on page 27, "Challenge & response," detailed the $6.9 billion small railroads need from the federal government to upgrade track structure to handle 286,000 lb. gross weight on rail cars. Congress would be wise to do nothing of the kind without some assurance that the industry would not then raise the bar still higher, i.e. to the 315,000-pound car.

Time and time again Railway Age articles have shown conclusively that maintenance-of-way costs do not increase in proportion to the increase in axle load, but in an accelerating proportion as stress limits of the rail and track material are approached. This latest article is no exception, stating that on short lines such costs increase 20% versus an 8.75% increase in axle load from the 263,000-pound car to the 286 car. Such increases in m/w costs offset all or a part of the benefits from heavier loading.

Congress needs to know that funding short lines' capabilities to handle the heavier 286 cars is a reasonably permanent solution.

G. R. (Dick) Green

Look beyond the U.K.

To the Editor:

The idea of private-sector freight railways being involved in passenger service takes many forms around the world, and the U.S. would be well served to look beyond the U.K. for models. The most basic example I am aware of is our own affiliate in Malawi, Central East African Railways. In this case we receive a fixed annual subsidy for providing a social service, so if we improve the economics through cost reduction and revenue growth, it becomes a better business for us.

Henry Posner III

Railroad Development Corp.