Every 20 years, railroading reinvents itself

摘要

Railroading generally reinvents itself about every 20 years - a truism told to me recently by a railroad historian. After listening to him and talking to others, I am ready to believe in the dumbfounding regularity of railroad reinvention. Ironically, the greatest leaps forward in railroading are often brought about as the railroads battle these changes and sometimes even predict that such progress will bring them to ruin. I will give you examples, but first, let me say that one purpose of this column is to explain how the last sentence of the first paragraph may be changing. The railroad industry as a whole may be ready to believe that change is good, even if it costs money and even as "experts" predict that the latest traffic boom driving change is temporary and will mean nothing in a couple of years. I'll get back to this concept later in the column.