query re railroad privatisation

[Mark D Bej]

> I am currently researching the issue of rail privatisation,
> infrastructure investment and financing (who pays), track access and
> pricing etc. I am trying to approach this from a comparative

This is written up in books on "how to run a railroad" (from a business,
not operational, perspective. See below.

> perspective. There is a fair bit going on in the UK, and the European
> Commission is also considering it. However, I am having difficulty
> locating sources on the United States.

There are probably few sources describing _privatisation_ in any great
detail in the US, as private RRs are taken for granted over here. There were
few privatisations because the government did not own much railroad trackage,
or did not own it long.

You'll want to look into the railroad nationalization of 1916-1920 (or
thereabouts). The gov't found itself unable to run the railroads after the
War and sold them back to the original owners.

Also, there is the government acquisition of Penn Central, Lehigh Valley,
Erie Lackawanna, Reading, and smaller roads, and their consolidation and
breakup into Conrail (by far the major entity) and Amtrak. Several Acts
of Congress dealt with this, particularly the 3R and 4R acts. I don't
recall the exact titles, but they went something like Rail Reorganization
... etc., one having 3 and the other having 4 R-words in the title.
There have been multiple additional Acts or bills dealing with Amtrak, in
whole or in part (search also under the old name of "Railpax"). ALso look
at the Staggers Act (dealing with the recent deregulation).

Much of this is probably available on the Web. Look for the Federal Register,
and Department of Transportation as starting points. Many libraries in the
US, college and public, are repositories of federal documents, and materials,
at worst, may be copied and sent by mail, or you may purchase them from the
Government Printing Office in Washington.

> Can anyone recommend to me research or reports on this topic as to what
> happened or is happening in the U.S.? or perhaps you can refer me on to
> another information source?

Many books have been written about the period of govt control in the early
part of the century, and many have been written on the operation of a
railroad - a railroad held in private hands, of course. The "card catalog"
of the Library of Congress is likely on line - frankly, I've not looked
for it.

--
Mark

[Brett Rekola]

Petty, Jobi JL wrote:
>
> I am currently researching the issue of rail privatisation,
> infrastructure investment and financing (who pays), track access and
> pricing etc. I am trying to approach this from a comparative

> perspective. There is a fair bit going on in the UK, and the European
> Commission is also considering it. However, I am having difficulty
> locating sources on the United States.
>

> Can anyone recommend to me research or reports on this topic as to what
> happened or is happening in the U.S.? or perhaps you can refer me on to
> another information source?
>

> Thanks for any assistance that you can provide.
>
> Regards,
> Jobi Petty
> BHP Transport
> email: petty....@bhp.com.au
> fax: +61 3 9609 2525
> tel: + 61 3 9609 2379
Send your address and we will forward some information.

Brett Rekola
Transit Rail Systems Inc
Boston, Ma.