No. Are you stupid? It got sold off to the CSX and the NS because the Feds rightfully recognized that they weren't in the business of running railroads.

>>964278
>muh competitive advantage

>>964299
>It got sold off to the CSX and the NS because the Feds rightfully recognized that they weren't in the business of running railroads.

:^)

Do you believe everything your corporate masters tell you?

>>964337
No, I just know that freight railroads are much better when they're run as a business rather than a public service.

>B-b-but my heritage!
It's a business, not a museum.

>>964346
Conrail was more profitable than both NS and CSX at the time it was merged into those other systems, which is why both those corporations colluded to take down Conrail and establish an inefficient and overpriced duopoly in the Northeast.

>>964347
>Hurp durp
No it wasn't.

It was profitable, yes, but not more so than the NS and CSX. Further, the government had no desire to continue owning and operating a railroad when businesses were more than willing to do it themselves.

Finally, the NS and CSX did not collude. The NS and CSX wanted to buy Conrail outright each and got into a bidding war, the STB wouldn't let them and made them split it instead.

Now while you're on a stupid bullshit conspiracy tirade, tell me how privatizing the CN in '95 was a catastrophe as well.

Be sure to include things besides cutting service to small communities were it didn't make financial sense to continue operations.

Again, railroads are businesses run for profit and are not charities.

>>964350
>railroads are businesses run for profit and are not charities.

I doubt you'll still be singing that tune when you lose your job to PTC and automation. Or maybe you will since you love being cucked by big corporations (which is so much better than big government).

>>964299
good goy/10

>>964379
>>964407
Giving up so easily? I expected some sort of fight based on logic. I don't know why, though.

Furthermore
>Implying any field is safe from the looming threat of automation.

Firstly: Conrail began privatization in 1987.
Secondly: technically speaking, Conrail still exists.

>>964420
You don't have any arguments yourself. The government should regulate railroads like they are a public service/public utilities. They can remain private and have a right to a fair and reasonable profit, but aside from that they have to serve all possible traffic and can't abandon service to areas just because its more profitable to do so.

>>964350
The government didn't own Conrail by the time it was broken up. The STB should have told NS and CSX to fuck off considering this happened after the mega-mergers of the 80s which were an absolute mess.

>>964510
>Mega mergers
>80s
No. The mega mergers all happened in the early/mid 90s.

>>964486
>The government should regulate railroads like they are a public service/public utilities
They do.
> They can remain private and have a right to a fair and reasonable profit
>Fair and reasonable
Who determines this? Fuck off socialist pig.
>but aside from that they have to serve all possible traffic
They already have to as a common carrier. They cannot refuse a shipment if they are capable of moving it.
>[they] can't abandon service to areas just because its more profitable to do so
But you already have to go through the STB and petition to abandon service.

So yeah, you really DON'T know how railroads are run. Now go run off to your Sanders or Clinton rally.

>>964561
You deserve to lose your job to a robot, corporate shill. The ICC was doing its job just fine before the Staggers Act, neoliberal economics has been disastrous for all Americans except the corporate and political elites who run it. Penn Central didn't die because the ICC was too strict or the unions too strong, it died because of incompetent and corrupt leadership at the top. Same with the other railroads that went bankrupt between the 1960s and 1980. Stay blue-pilled though, sheeple.

>>964642
>The ICC was doing its job just fine before the Staggers Act
>Penn Central failed because of corporate mismanagement
>Never mind all the other eastern and western railroads that were failing at the same time.
You have a very incomplete grasp of history. I'd say you're the one that needs to open up a history book.

Over regulation in the face of stiff competition from trucking is what killed railroads in the 60s and 70s. Not mismanagement.

>>964647
If Apple cooked the books and declared themselves bankrupt and said the cause was overregulation, would you believe their propaganda? Same shit happened in the 1970s, only they were able to get away with it more back then because of the economic and social climate of the time. Its on record these guys lied to the ICC but people only found out after the fact.

>>964642
>actually using the word "sheeple"

>>964653
Better than being a "sheeple" tbqhwy.

And that was mostly added in as a joke anyway.

>>964649
>It's a conspiracy! Everyone everywhere was in on it!
Occam's Razor etc.

Take off your tinfoil hat.

The CR & CSX merger was going to happen. MERGER not take over. NS made attempts to get CR in the past and was not letting the CSX get it without a fight. The only CR still exists is because the CSX and NS could not figure out how to split up Detroit, Philly, North Jersey and south Jersey without fucking the customers. That's where the politicians got involved to save the customers. The FEDS did not sell Conrail. The FEDS did not own Conrail. Conrail became so profitable in the late 80's , After paying back the money the FEDS had given them , They went public with their stock and took off like a rocket. That's why the other railroads wanted to merge with them $$$$. It'a all about business.

>>965145
And when did Conrail start making money?
>After Staggers

Staggers was both good and bad for the RR industry. Forced a lot of smaller RR customers to trucks.If you read it, then you know what I am talking about.