Evening star., 1961-07-23
NO HANDOUTS REQUESTED
Ai|inq Railroads Seek Justice
By PAUL HOPE
Star Staff Writer

Star Staff Writer
A railway official said not long
ago that railroaders feel as frus-
trated as q woodpecker working
on q steel telephone pole.
The woodpecker's beak got an
other dent two, weeks ago with the
collapse of the New Haven line
into bankruptcy.
This raised anew-and in a loud
voice-a clamor for finding solu-
ton to the problems of the Ma
tons No. 1 transportation system.
There is no doubt that the
transportation giant is ailing.
That the Nation cannot permit it
to die is incontestable.
THE public interest in main
tanning privately owned railroads
as a basic element Of an efficient
transportation system and one
that will provide for economic
growth and national defense re-
quires early action" said a recent
report made for the Senate Com
mittee on Interstate and Foreign
Commerce.
80 Lost Money
The American Association of
Railroads says that 38 OF the
Nations lot Class I railroads
chats all except a few small
ones) lost money during the first
five months of this year.
The lure Of vast fortunes, like
the lonesome wall Of the steam
whistle, is gone from railroading.
So are the conditions under which
the whims and vagaries Of empire
builders could determine the for
tunes of the railroads, the in
vestors and even the people they
served.
Rail executiveS-with the wood
pecker -on a steel pole feeling
claim the railroads are being
strangled by outmoded regulations,
governmental Subsidization OF
other modes Of transportation and
by unfair taxation.
In the case Of the New Haven,
it has to compete with vast net
work of highways along its 1900
mile New England system, high
ways built with Government funds.
It also has heavy competition FROM
airlines. Though still a major
commuter line carrying $4,000
passengers a day into New York,
it has lost customers rapidly over
the past few years.
Freight Loss Serious
But the biggest blow came from
the heavy loss Of freight to trucks
which use new highways for fast
service between cities in the area.
Freight revenues had been carry
ing part of the loss from passenger
traffic for years.
The New Haven, once blue chip
railroad, has received in the past
six years more than $39 million in
outright Federal loans or Govern
ment-guaranteed loans. It went
into bankruptcy after the Gov
ernment turned down a request
for another $5.5 million loan.
Though the new loan would not
have cured the New Haven's basic
ills, it was ironic that the request
was turned down when the United
States Government since 1916 has
given grants or loans totaling
nearly $1.4 billion for railroad
projects in foreign countries.
The New Haven, while an ex-
treme example, is symptomatic Of
the industry.
How Percentages Slid
In 1926 the railroads carried
nearly n per cent Of the Nations
intercity freight traffic. In 1946
it was 81 per cent and last year
dropped to about As per cent.
In 1926 railroads carried about
"a per cent Of all commercial
intercity passenger traffic. By
1916 it was down to 66 per cent
and last year to rs per cent.
Hardest hit have been the rail-
roads in the East, where passenger
deficits pile up higher and where
short-haul operations require more
terminal facilities, more yard work,
more paper work and more en-
ployes. In addition. the short dis
tanceS between cities make truck
shipment more attractive.
Even the mighty Pennsylvania
Railroad, biggest of them all, lost
nearly SIS million in the first five
months Of this year. Two other
big ones, the New York Central
and the Baltimore & Ohio, lost
$40 million and $12 million, re-
spectively. during the same period
Passenger traffic hasn't paid its
way for many years on railroads