GETTING DOWN TO BASICS

Abstract

This chapter reviews the basics of railroad research. The intent of railroad research is basically the same—to provide the most efficient, safe, and reliable rail system possible. Political and ownership considerations also affect approaches such research. Railroad operations outside the US, with the partial exception of Canada, are almost entirely government-owned. American railroad traffic is for the most part heavy tonnage freight business, with less emphasis on passenger service. Railroads outside America are more concerned with high-speed passenger movement and relatively low axle-load freight service. Railroad operations in the US are carried on by independent, privately owned corporations. They have tangible profit goals to be obtained and stockholder owners to answer to. Research must necessarily be compatible with this private enterprise system. That means that it is principally directed toward encouraging competition and efficiency, seeking immediate advantages rather than long-term basic knowledge. For too many years, the federal government's attitude toward railroads in America was a mixture of infatuation with the past, interference in the present, and indifference to the future. This is beginning to change. The government is taking an increasingly helpful interest in the problems of the railroads and of transportation as a whole. The government's growing involvement with the problems of transportation and the reorganization of bankrupt railroads has been accompanied by an increased interest by government in railroad research. This is an important development, so far as American railroads are concerned, because the situation needs more coordinated basic railroad research.