rmptr
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Miles of Idled Boxcars Leave Towns Singing the Freight-Train Blues
FEBRUARY 23, 2009
As Slumping Railroads Run Out of Parking, an Indiana Hamlet Is Divided by Wall of Cars
By ALEX ROTH
NEW CASTLE, Ind. -- Folks here figured the mile-long stretch of a hundred-plus yellow rail cars, which divides this small town like a graffiti-covered wall, would leave soon after it arrived.
That was a year ago.
"They stayed and they stayed and they stayed," says Bruce Atkinson, a local resident. "Then more moved in."
Tens of thousands of boxcars are sitting idle all over the country, parked indefinitely by railroads whose freight volumes have plummeted along with the economy. And residents of the communities stuck with these newly immobile objects, like the people of New Castle, are hopping mad about it.
Dennis Duffy, Union Pacific's executive vice president of operations, says that in a healthy economy, the railroad might have 5,000 to 8,000 cars in storage. At the moment, it has 48,000 idle cars, he says, forcing it to come up with "unconventional solutions." It has parked them on 60 sidings around the country.
I guess it's becoming more difficult to hide the collapsing economy.
Do yah think folks will get it soon?
FEBRUARY 23, 2009
As Slumping Railroads Run Out of Parking, an Indiana Hamlet Is Divided by Wall of Cars
By ALEX ROTH
NEW CASTLE, Ind. -- Folks here figured the mile-long stretch of a hundred-plus yellow rail cars, which divides this small town like a graffiti-covered wall, would leave soon after it arrived.
That was a year ago.
"They stayed and they stayed and they stayed," says Bruce Atkinson, a local resident. "Then more moved in."
Tens of thousands of boxcars are sitting idle all over the country, parked indefinitely by railroads whose freight volumes have plummeted along with the economy. And residents of the communities stuck with these newly immobile objects, like the people of New Castle, are hopping mad about it.
Dennis Duffy, Union Pacific's executive vice president of operations, says that in a healthy economy, the railroad might have 5,000 to 8,000 cars in storage. At the moment, it has 48,000 idle cars, he says, forcing it to come up with "unconventional solutions." It has parked them on 60 sidings around the country.
I guess it's becoming more difficult to hide the collapsing economy.
Do yah think folks will get it soon?
