I think you missed my point. They could have chosen to divest the
> entire regulated railroad business instead (in the way that AT&T chose
> to give up the local telco business in the early 1980s), leaving the
> now-separate rump company to concentrate exclusively on rail while the
> new successor company (which would have purchased the non-rail assets)
> chased the newer markets. Instead, the execs chose to stay with the
> rump themselves. They bet on the wrong pony.
This seems to ignore the reality that the railroads are thriving businesses today. Intercity bus services has been declining and many cities are without any intercity bus service at all. The motor freight business more and more is turning to the railroads to carrying their long-haul freight in trailers or containers. J.B. Hunt, the nation's largest trucking company, is one of the largest customers of the railroads. I believe UPS is the largest single customer of the railroads.
Wes Leatherock snipped-for-privacy@aol.com snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com