SHORT LINE RAILROADS

by government-built highways under the Interstate Highway System act of 1956. Manufacturing patterns also changed, resulting in a gradual but steady decline in business available to the core group of short lines. At the same time, the larger railroads suffered in a highly regulated environment with subsidised highway competition and significant labour and management problems. Trucking became a cheaper way to transport some material previously shipped via rail. Trucking required minimal capital outlay with the roads funded by the government, while railroads not only had to supply their own diminishing capital for growth and maintenance, but were often subject to punitive taxation on their rightsof-way. In addition, low performing sections of track could not be closed or sold without significant government approval processes.

In 1968, the New York Central and Pennsylvania railroads merged in a last ditch attempt to remain viable. They entered bankruptcy, and most of the other major eastern carriers followed. In 1976, Congress passed the 4R Act which established the US Railroad Association to oversee the reorganisation of the eastern railroads into a new entity to be known as Conrail.

One principal requirement in creating a viable Conrail was the elimination of money-losing and marginal branch lines that its predecessors had been forced to operate. A number of marginal branch lines were turned over to newly-formed, entrepreneurial short line companies. These short lines were run by hands-on managers who lived and worked in the communities they served. They knew what their customers needed and did all they could to tailor service to those needs. They, and their customers, had a great deal of incentive to make their railroads work and they were able to secure some support from state and local governments. Despite many dire predictions of failure, the experiment worked. Marginal branch lines became viable and valuable feeder lines and demonstrated their value in improving economic opportunities at the community level.

Staggers and rebirth

The Staggers Rail Act of 1980 in the US ended most of the economic regulation on the rail industry gave railroads an exit strategy for unprofitable lines. The other major railroads quickly began to market unproductive branches to short line operators, and the small railroad industry began an unprecedented rebirth - in essence returning to the roots of railroading. Over the ensuing years thousands of miles of track have been saved from abandonment, and hundreds of communities have been able to maintain and advance their economies thanks to continued rail service. By 2002 the short line industry had grown to 545 railroad companies operating over 29% of all US rail mileage and responsible for 25% of the total freight handled on the Class I Railroads. Today, short lines operate more than 50,000 miles of track, or 30% of the nation’s total railroad mileage. Today’s 603 short line railroads employ 20,000 people, serving 13,000 facilities and hauling more than 14 million carloads per year. One carload in every four is served in original or destination by a short line railroad.

North of the 49th parallel

Given the historically smaller rail network in Canada, it comes as no surprise that short line activity is equally smaller. The Railway As-