George Harris
Engineer
North Carolina has owned this railroad since 1850 or thereabouts. They built it. The state was not bluffing. They were quite willing to carry out what they told NS they were going to do. Playing a bluff game with the major railroad companies is an act of stupidity. Don't say you are going to do what you really are not willing to do.If you own some of the track -- as North Carolina does -- you have a big stick to threaten them with if they act unreasonable. As NC discovered, you don't actually have to carry through on your threats, either; the class Is start behaving politely as soon as they realize the state has leverage over them.
Also, the current management of CSX may be friendly, but that's no guarantee of the behavior of future management. The Class Is are extremely arrogant and believe that they can ignore state law (even the laws which they actually are subject to legally) -- this is clear in many STB filings. What they can't ignore, ever, is state ownership of the rails they're running on.
The general feel on the part of people on the railroad side of the equation is that the state and various other government agents are the arrogant ones, treating the railroads as if they (the agencies) were the owners rather than the railroad while demanding they pay taxes through the nose on their property. They fear, and a lot of it is experience based is that when someone comes in and says, "We are from the government and we are here to help you," it is a cause for fear if not outright panic. There is also a lack of enthusiasm about any of these wonderful schemes because they have seen so many that require time and money for imput from them and then end up to be nothing but hot air and a pile of reports.
Last edited by a moderator: