Replies to Cian, Doug, and Dennis on rail

Chris Beggy news at kippona.com
Tue Jan 15 10:36:43 PST 2002


"Cian O'Connor" <cian_oconnor at yahoo.co.uk> writes:


> Also the newspapers have been covering the collapse of
> the rail networks in far greater detail than something
> which only affects a small minority really deserves. I
> think the rail network is pretty much dead now, but
> the government is going to take a lot of damage over it.

Are there any passenger railroads, anywhere, that are self-financing and profitable? I doubt it. What's wrong with trying to privatize, failing, and then re-nationalizing? It seems pretty reasonable.

In the US the Penn Central Railroad was the Enron of the 1970's. Still, the trains rattled on, in Bladerunneresque manner. Inexplicable delays in unlit cars with dripping water collecting in pools on the floor became normal.

Chris



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