While the national rail network did not reach its all-time peak until , the industry's power was largely capped during the 20th century's first decade. Wishing to change this, he oversaw sweeping legislation during his administration. In retrospect, perhaps his efforts were too sweeping although they did prove effective.
There were two noteworthy bills passed into law at this time, the Elkins Act of and Hepburn Act of ; both brought increased regulation and significantly broadened the Interstate Commerce Commission's ICC power.
The former ended the use of rebates in an effort to protect competition and fair pricing. The latter amended its predecessor by providing the ICC broad powers in controlling freight rates. Essentially, railroads were banned from adjusting rates without prior approval. In , new president William Howard Taft expanded upon Roosevelt's efforts. He held an even worse view of railroads, overseeing passage of the Mann-Elkins Act.
This legislation further increased the ICC's power, requiring railroads to show just cause for any rate hike. Unfortunately, such draconian measures were not lifted until Staggers Act , by which time many companies had either declared bankruptcy or were in the process of doing so. A strong argument could be made against these policies, which ultimately led to the industry's downfall by the 's and abandonment of so much infrastructure.
Perhaps the decade's greatest improvement was the transformation from iron to steel rails. Steel's durability and strength could simply not be matched; the nation's first mill appeared in the 's and steel became so widespread by that virtually all lines boasted such.
The record mileage achieved in , miles could rightfully be argued as the industry's apex in many other ways. For instance, additional regulations and other transportation modes would increasingly curtail its market power beyond the 's. The interurban story has been well documented and more information regarding this fascinating aspect of American transportation can be found here.
For a complete history I would strongly recommend a copy of Dr. The interurbans sprang up in the very late 19th century as an early form of rapid transit utilizing electrification. Many saw it as the future in short and intermediate commuter service due to its cleanliness and high speed capabilities. There were three great periods of interurban development; the first occurred during the 's and then reached a great flurry of construction between and when more than 5, miles were built.
The Panic of temporarily slowed construction but it reignited during a brief four-year period from to when another 4, miles were placed into service. Another financial setback in all but ended further investment except in isolated pockets. In there were just 7 miles of interurbans in use, a number which jumped to 3, by , and finally peaked at 15, in As Dr. A marked decline set in about , and in the decade the industry was virtually annihilated.
By , no trace of it remained in its original form. It's immediate downfall began with the early automobile's success notably Henry Ford's Model T , which were affordable for everyday Americans despite poor road conditions, and the Great Depression which began with 's stock market crash.
In truth, interurbans should have never been built. The systems were designed to link nearby cities and act as high speed, commuter operations that would compete against traditional steam railroads.
Unfortunately, many were never engineered properly for such speeds, featuring steep grades and sharp curves. Most were further handicapped by choosing rights-of-way along public roads and through city streets in an effort to reduce construction costs. In a market where profits were slim, only those built to better standards with an eye towards freight lasted beyond World War II. Those which remained after , like the Illinois Terminal, did so as freight carriers, having shed virtually all of their interurban heritage.
The United States' entry into World War I April 6, also proved incredibly problematic; most railroads were completely unprepared for the tsunami of traffic that followed. Not only did freight yards jam and trains snarl to a crawl but many carriers also lacked sufficient equipment to deal with the deluge. In an effort to maintain fluid traffic, the federal government took the unprecedented step of nationalizing the industry on December 28, via the United States Railroad Administration USRA.
Canadian National has bowed out of its pursuit of Kansas City Southern, two weeks after US regulators threw up a major roadblock to a proposed deal, clearing the way for Canadian Pacific to apply for regulatory approval for its deal with the US-Mexico railroad.
While container dwell may be up, intermodal volume on the UP network — domestic and international combined — is down 4. Rails focus too much on shareholders, not shippers: STB chair. The chairman of the US Surface Transportation Board urged railroads to focus less on serving Wall Street investors and more on serving shippers, employees, and the public interest — or else the agency may have to intervene.
CP gives KCS ultimatum on acquisition offer. CSX restricts domestic container flows in Chicago again. CSX has been restricting how many domestic containers can be brought into Bedford Park, Illinois, causing shippers to pay accessorial fees, or consider alternatives such as Norfolk Southern Railway or spot market trucking to get their goods out of Chicago.
Railroads look to ease inland congestion through metering. US railroads have begun to control the number of containers leaving ports on trains per day to tailor volume to equipment and labor capacity, but some are skeptical this new strategy will resolve the crippling congestion in inland US markets.
BNSF and Norfolk Southern look to spare yard capacity to deal with rising intermodal volumes across their networks. SoCal truck demand spiking on record intermodal rates, railyard congestion. With ocean carriers pushing importers toward transloading in California amid record-high spot intermodal rates, trucks are becoming a hot commodity in Los Angeles in August.
Class I railroads blame shippers in defense of storage fees. Class I railroads with operations at the largest US inland rail hub, Chicago, are seeing volumes of stored containers swell percent or more, creating congestion across their network. UP targets mid-week for Houston intermodal lift repair. Union Pacific said it expects to repair a container lift at its Houston intermodal yard by mid-week as the region deals with a growing supply of containers and limited truck capacity. NS unveils incentive for easing Chicago, KC congestion.
Norfolk Southern is rolling out an incentive program to reward dual moves at two of its busiest intermodal ramps at a time of heavy demand and high volumes. JOC Research: Contract rail savings widen, but spot business may flip to truck. Intermodal shippers saved record amounts of money in the second quarter, but rate hikes in California, Texas, and Washington will make trucks the cheaper option on transactional loads in the western US going forward. NS targets end of August to complete chassis repairs.
Norfolk Southern Railway anticipates domestic intermodal service to return to normal by Labor Day with repairs on 75 percent of recalled chassis completed in August and an influx of leased chassis into the network in September. UP ramping up West Coast service to Chicago. Union Pacific has begun a controlled restoration of train service from West Coast ports to the Chicago metropolitan area, hoping a fresh restart will restore terminal fluidity for international intermodal customers.
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