It is amazing isn't it. The brass doesn't care as long as they can meet the expectations of the stock analysists at the expense of everyone else and walk away with big fat bonuses stuffed in their already stuffed pockets.Absolutely correct, and isn't it funny that the brass never seems to get the memo? Them good 'ol train boys of the past knew their role, they understood logistics, and they literally knew how to run a railroad. Sure profit was important as it always in in business; however, not at the expense of their clientele and consumers.
The train world always fascinated me since I was a kid. I loved seeing Soo Line, Burlington Northern, and Santa Fe's traveling over the crossings in the late 70s and the 80s. Going into St. Paul as a kid to visit family took us past the Pig's Eye rail yard that's nestled under the bluffs, and to a little kid it was a life size model railroad (and oh how I wanted to play big boy trains). Today it's lost so much of the magic (and those of you older than me truly saw that magic in your youths) and this merger if the Federal Government approves it (you know they will because like all consolidations they NEVER see consequences) will ruin the magic once again.
I worked for Polaroid and then later a spin-off. Polaroid was cut up, carved up, and forced into the ground much as I described. Like the railroads, the CEO came from another industry whose sole purpose was to carve up the company for profit. I predict the same will happen to CSX should they join forces with BNSF.
I do remember the older days of the 60s and 70s when I grew up. I also remember the demise of the NYC, B&M, MEC, Pennsy, New Haven, and so many other companies as corporations offshored business to keep the profits up at the expense of whole communities. I saw it again when Guilford destroyed the D&H, B&M, and MEC. The B&M was actually profitable by that point, after coming out of a reorganization, while the MEC was always profitable. Guilford and later PAR put nothing into these roads as they ran them into the ground. They ditched the hurting D&H after lopping off a portion of their mainline instead of rebuilding it.