fazeman

As I learn more about the historical paths of the railroad and airline industry, I continue to wonder in amazement as to why in the last 180 years, the railroad industry has yet to establish transcontinental routes for the shipment of freight.

Interestingly, the airline industry, thanks to the late Postmaster General, Walter Folger Brown, was able to set up transcontinental routes during the early 1930's. Yet, the railroads and government never came together in streamlining the rail industry in this regard. One has to wonder what could have happened if "Class I" railroads of the 1950's could have merged to create a much more efficienct freight distribution system.

Below is a video that Penn Central had produced in an attempt to secure desperately needed funds from the government. It is an excellent reference as to how awful the American railroad industry had become by the early 1970's. These results are due in no small part to the cultural differences between the railroads, poor management, the stranglehold that the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) had on the railroads and the poor policies set by the government until the Staggers Rail Act was signed into law in 1980.

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Steve

hpennell

There is such a thing as the transcontinental route it's called the Trans-Con, double mainline tracks from L.A. to the East, with a few single tracks, mainly in N.M., but they are working on those. BNSF and U.P. work the west and Norfolk Southern and CSX work the east, with a lot of interchange of locomotives along the way. so its not uncommon to to see a CSX in Oregon or a U.P. in Jersey. most of the cargo on the Trans-Con is containers, seems it's cheaper and faster to transport them by rail than go through the Panama canal

fazeman

hpennell,

I wasn't aware that Trans-Con was the official name for landbridge service throughout the country.

As per the first map, Trans-Con service almost resembles the original transcontinental air route system of American, Northwest Orient, TWA and United. And while the second map confirms that no railroad has a transcontinental route, at least there is strong cooperation between the "Class I" railroads to make Trans-Con highly successful. I see this success at Norfolk International Terminals with a decent mix of locomotives from the four majors you mentioned. Another exciting project is the Panama Canal expansion due to be finished in 2014/15. This project will allow post Panamax ships to utilize the canal.

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Steve