Word: freight
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Interstate Commerce Commission proposed $150 million to $200 million a year in stopgap aid and imposition of a 1% tax on all rail, truck or barge freight movements in the country, with the aim of raising another $400 million a year to keep the Northeast railroads running. The next day President Nixon's new Secretary of Transportation, Claude S. Brinegar, rejected the idea of a federal bail-out and proposed instead a kind of freight version of Amtrak, the quasi-Government corporation that runs long-distance passenger trains (TIME, March 26). Brinegar would create one or more corporations, with...
...scale contemplated by the ICC could become a massive, endless drain on taxpayers. The root problem of the Northeast lines is that their track system was vastly overbuilt around the turn of the century; in an era of trucks and pipelines it no longer carries enough freight to keep all the lines alive. On the other hand, Brinegar's belief that no federal money will be needed is almost surely wishful thinking. "There is no way for a bankrupt railroad to raise money other than through a federal subsidy," says one rail executive. "Even if we streamline our plant...
...discount price, and has negotiated car-rental discounts for Amtrak passengers at some destination points. Although these are not exactly startling innovations, the attitude behind them is the exact opposite of the viewpoint of private railroad executives, most of whom believe that passengers only get in the way of freight...
...million in profits. Cargill has more than 12,000 employees in 350 offices, mammoth grain terminals and storage elevators around the world. To move its grain, the company owns one of the nation's largest fleets of towboats and river barges, and regularly rents a 115-car freight train...
...with progress; in fact, the opposite may be true. Railroading, of all industries, recorded a sharp productivity gain, despite the constant complaint of its executives that they are being featherbedded into bankruptcy. Among other things, the roads knocked off most of their passenger trains, which require larger crews than freight trains do, and thereby made it much more difficult for travelers to get from city to city. The soft-drink industry raised productivity by 5.1% annually, partly by switching to nonreturnable bottles, which threaten to bury U.S. cities under mounds of trash. On the other hand, coal-mining productivity dropped...