Long-term trends in railroad service and capacity for U.S. agriculture

009275492000PDFProceedingsRailroad transportationAgricultureStrategic planningLong range planningAgricultural shippersCommodity shipmentRailroad capacityRailroad servicesUnited StatesUnited States. Agricultural Marketing ServicePrater, MarvinKlindworth, KeithNTL-RAIL TRANSPORTATION-RAIL TRANSPORTATIONNTL-FREIGHT-Freight Economics and FinanceNTL-ECONOMICS AND FINANCE-Economic ImpactsAGR-FREIGHT-Grain & Other Farm CommoditiesAGR-FREIGHT-RailroadsAGR-FREIGHT-Competition/Modal ShareIn this paper, the long-term trends in railroad services and capacity for U.S. agriculture are identified and described, particularly in terms of what these trends portend for agricultural shippers absent any change in the economically deregulated environment within which the U.S. rail industry has operated during the past 20 years. Before the trends are discussed, however, introductory material on how the U.S. railroad system has evolved over that time will be presented. After the long-term trends are presented, the paper concludes with a brief discussion of the likely long-term implications to U.S. agriculture of these long-term trends in railroad services and capacity