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Spotlighted by Union Pacific's 1997 service crisis, the many manufacturing plants and dense trackage of the Houston area are centered around a commodity crucial to railroads
DURING THE PAST FOUR OR FIVE YEARS, U.S. railroad observers have been immersed in the ongoing saga of rail service west of the Mississippi River First, Burlington Northern merging with Santa Fe in September 1995 drew their attention, followed a year later by Union Pacific's takeover of Southern Pacific. The creation of BNSF and the UP-SP merger were mammoth transactions on the grand scale of the ill-fated Penn Central merger a quarter-century earlier, and they began a new chapter in American history, the creation of a railroad duopoly serving the western two-thirds of the nation.
In the aftermath of this upheaval came a colossal breakdown in service, especially on Union Pacific, and then, as the two giants applied ingenuity and financial muscle to the trouble spots, a gradual transition toward a more orderly state. Indeed, what emerged from the chaos was a blueprint for the way America's four mega-systems are likely to operate for years. It is characterized by thousands of miles of shared trackage, rights on alternate routes, extensive use of cross-leased motive power, and decentralized train control handled from cross-- staffed regional dispatching centers in areas of high traffic density and potential congestion.
During 1997-98, as the effects of UP's service disruptions rippled from Texas to California and back, millions of words were drummed into our collective consciousness by countless newspaper and magazine articles and television reports. Piled on top of these was a bookcase full of detailed proceedings from the Surface Transportation Board's lengthy inquiries. With it came a recurring theme which focused on three key words-congestion, chemicals, and Houston.
To those unfamiliar with Texas railroading, these words beg some questions. Aren't chemicals just like other freight, or do they require special treatment? Isn't Houston just like New Orleans, Kansas City, or any other major metro area with many yards and junctions? The short answers are: No, Yes, and No. A more important question would be, how (and why) was chemical traffic related to the congestion that virtually paralyzed rail operations in Houston for almost a year? To answer those queries with any detail requires some...