Evaluation of the U.S. Railway Association's Preliminary System Plan

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Evaluation of the U.S. Railway Association's Preliminary System Plan: Report of the Rail Services Planning Office to the U.S. Railway Association (Ex Parte No. 293, Sub-No. 5, Northeastern Rail Investigation)
• Corporate Creators:
  United States. Rail Services Planning Office.
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States Railway Association ; United States. Interstate Commerce Commission
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Railroads
  • Finance
  • System design
  • Planning
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  United States Railway Association
• Abstract:
  The U.S. Railway Associations' Preliminary System Plan established the proposed structure for Conrail and related rail-service changes under the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973. This April 1975 report presents the Rail Services Planning Office's independent evaluation of that plan, submitted to the U.S. Railway Association in accordance with Section 207(a)(2) of the Act. The report reviews the proposed Conrail system, summarizes extensive public testimony, evaluates proposed coordination projects, analyzes light-density line recommendations, considers passenger, environmental, energy, financial, and management issues, and assesses rail-service continuation subsidy arrangements. ; The report is especially significant because it documents the principal independent public-review process associated with the Preliminary System Plan. RSPO held public hearings in 27 cities, heard testimony from more than 1,900 witnesses, compiled a hearing record of more than 10,000 pages, and received more than 500 written submissions. Complete copies of the hearing transcripts and written submissions were provided to USRA for use in the Final System Plan process. The public response was dominated by concern over proposed light-density line abandonments, but also addressed industry structure, coordination with solvent railroads, passenger service, financial structure, and environmental concerns. ; RSPO's evaluation combined public-response issues with its own technical and statutory critique. Some concerns reflected widespread testimony from shippers, communities, states, and local officials who objected to proposed branch-line abandonments and challenged USRA's traffic, cost, revenue, and community-impact assumptions. Other concerns, including the need for clearer property descriptions, legally sufficient transfer documentation, and fuller financial disclosure, reflected RSPO's institutional review of whether the Preliminary System Plan was adequate as a statutory restructuring plan. RSPO criticized the Preliminary System Plan as "more of a report or commentary than a plan," and urged that the Final System Plan provide clearer property designations, fuller financial disclosure, more reliable data, and more explicit consideration of the statutory public-interest goals of the Act. ; The Final System Plan later responded to many of these criticisms, particularly by strengthening property-transfer documentation, expanding financial and implementation analysis, reevaluating branch-line data, and considering testimony from the RSPO hearings. USRA's Final System Plan incorporated testimony, public comments, RSPO review, and further analysis, and its light-density-line volume addressed how to distinguish properties to be included in a financially viable Conrail system from lines requiring subsidy, state or local action, transfer to another carrier, abandonment, or preservation for future public use. On the light-density-line issue, however, USRA did not abandon its basic methodology. It defended the Final System Plan by concluding that the proposed system would preserve service to nearly all traffic handled by the railroads in reorganization, while recommending a relatively small share of traffic on light-density mileage for abandonment or subsidy. ; The report therefore serves as a key contemporaneous record of how public testimony, independent technical review, and statutory public-interest concerns entered the Conrail planning process. It also illustrates the tension between RSPO's broader review perspective and USRA's final policy judgment: USRA accepted the need to improve documentation, data, and analysis, but continued to treat financial viability, supplemented by state/local subsidy and continuation mechanisms, as central to the disposition of light-density lines.
• Content Notes:
  Issued April 28, 1975. Submitted in accordance with Section 207(a)(2) of the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973 (P.L. 93-236). Report of the Rail Services Planning Office, Interstate Commerce Commission, to the U.S. Railway Association. Main RSPO evaluation report for the U.S. Railway Association's Preliminary System Plan. The related June 1975 supplemental RSPO report addressing the Erie Lackawanna supplement is available in ROSA P as document/reference number 91246: https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/91246.
• Format:
  PDF
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/93241/dot_93241_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 52.03 MB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:513285476c521aeaa0e612001066d8437b127deaf3f3aeafce91340d6e4cc513546af8b4a6bb1288677ef5b75cf27e6d815358b70340c3ad2f6b1be9eb3a5ea7