It could have been much worse….

Last week the Washington Examiner published an article titled “Forty years after deregulation, the commercial rail industry thrives.” The author, Jeremy Lott begins by describing the background of regulation that dated back to 1887, and which contributed to serious upheaval in the industry over time, leading to the “massive bankruptcy” of Penn Central in 1970. After other failed efforts, the Staggers Act was eventually passed forty years ago which removed rigid price controls and service mandates. The article quotes the Association of American Railroads recent press release stating “over the past 40 years, rail traffic has doubled..rail rates are down more than 40% when adjusted for inflation..and recent years have been the safest on record.” So; while everyone wishes rates were lower today, thankfully there was a time when Congress worked together to reduce regulation and free up the industry to perform.

While there is a lot of equipment still in storage, the amount of used railroad equipment for sale could be higher to meet current requests. We are looking for flat cars for sale and also 286 rated cars for stone service.

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