I’m not going to do hours or days of research, but at best it’s hard to tell where the commuter based issues ended and freight related problems began for the history you’ve raised.
The history is also muddied
because of the car-heavy policies of the times.
Consider that trucks are the single biggest contributor to road damage, but regular drivers subsidize most of the cost.
Whereas rails own the tracks and have to maintain it themselves.
From what I’ve read recently, freight rail has the reputation and niche of being the cheapest way to ship on land despite all of this, but it’s slow and the cost cutting have enabled unintended side effects like rail theft.
I doubt the answer is to cut costs and headcount further; and perhaps factoring the cost of emissions can make rail more
competitive.
The history is also muddied because of the car-heavy policies of the times.
Consider that trucks are the single biggest contributor to road damage, but regular drivers subsidize most of the cost.
Whereas rails own the tracks and have to maintain it themselves.
From what I’ve read recently, freight rail has the reputation and niche of being the cheapest way to ship on land despite all of this, but it’s slow and the cost cutting have enabled unintended side effects like rail theft.
I doubt the answer is to cut costs and headcount further; and perhaps factoring the cost of emissions can make rail more competitive.