04-21-2015, 12:39 PM
No matter who owns the cars, someone has to maintain and repair them, so those costs must remain.
Given that the railroad that built and maintains the trackage has to pay for that, I can't see how privately owned cars are "free" in any sense of the word, since the majority of mainline trackage in America seems to be owned by a few large companies.
Obviously, if the privately owned cars belong to the railroad itself, then they are less costly, but again, not free.
Thew other thing that puzzles me is that my understanding of the "X" designation is that those cars are leased from a company rather than "privately owned", in which case the leasing company pays for the maintenance and repairs and passes the cost along to the leasees, who pass it along to their customers.
One way or another, somebody pays for everything. 8-)
Given that the railroad that built and maintains the trackage has to pay for that, I can't see how privately owned cars are "free" in any sense of the word, since the majority of mainline trackage in America seems to be owned by a few large companies.
Obviously, if the privately owned cars belong to the railroad itself, then they are less costly, but again, not free.
Thew other thing that puzzles me is that my understanding of the "X" designation is that those cars are leased from a company rather than "privately owned", in which case the leasing company pays for the maintenance and repairs and passes the cost along to the leasees, who pass it along to their customers.
One way or another, somebody pays for everything. 8-)