MIDWEST RAILROADS AND NORTHEAST LESSONS

Lessons learned in reorganizing Northeast bankrupt railroads and establishing Conrail can help solve Midwest railroad problems. New labor agreements could not be consummated. Political pressures dictated the Northeast restructuring. Courts are capable of reorganizing railroads under a modernized law in a relatively short period. Government planning through USRA proved less than perfect. Finally railroading is a business of narrow profit margins and vulnerable to weather, strikes and the national economic swings. Conrail has neither ended talk of nationalization or government ownership of rights of way.