A question on car loading.

[Brakie]

No matter who owns the cars, someone has to maintain and repair them, so those costs must remain.
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True,but,let's not forget the former railroad car shops that has closed or now operated by private freight car maintenance companies.Its cheaper in the long run for the railroads-doing away with thousands of car shop employees fattens the bottom line.

As far as lease cars RIP -there's the repair bill which is more money for the railroads including short lines. Heavy repair goes to contract car shops/re builders like Transco.

So they pay for repairs from a company which has to pay for the shops and equipment as well as the skilled repairmen and still show a profit - hard to see how this "fattens the bottom line" very much.

My experience has been that doing it yourself is almost always more economical that shopping it out. And the military has amply demonstrated that turning to private contractors has hugely increased their costs.

Look at the overall picture like the railroads do. No Union pay and benefits, no matching union pensions,no overhead like parts,upkeep on buildings,OSHA,EPA concerns etc and at the end of the year paying for car repairs can be a tax write off.

Eliminate thousands of jobs, overhead costs and yes,it will fatten the bottom line by a few millions.