The Union Pacific Railroad was created in 1862 by President Abraham Lincoln as a crucial part of the successful Civil War effort.
It has survived several illegal scandals (particularly bribery of elected officials), bankruptcy, and mergers to become one of the world’s largest and most successful transportation companies.
Today, UP collaborates with the oil and coal industries to achieve high profit margins. Per Fortune magazine, 2014 profits were $5.18 billion, which equaled the return on revenues ratio of Apple at 21.6 percent. But that is not without significant risk and cost to UP and the general public.
Part of these huge profits come from dubious petroleum mining techniques, such as fracking. Due to its enormous economy of scale, another part of these huge profits comes from the tweaking of various aspects of the railroad machines, procedures, and policies.
Did you know every 1 mph increase in speed eliminates the need for 200 locomotives? There is great incentive for small changes in railroad companies.
We all know about the destruction the crash has wreaked on Mosier. Soon, Mosier may lose access to its most precious resource; beach access would be closed for perhaps over 18 months.
Additionally, there may soon be a second track built through Mosier in order to accommodate double the rail traffic.
So Mosier would lose significant quality of life, as automobile traffic is controlled and all trains sound their horns at all hours of the day and night.
I almost forgot to mention the approximate doubling of risk of crashes due to the doubling of railroad traffic.
Mosier was simply very lucky in a bad situation; there was no strong summer wind that day.
I commend all who heroically approached the fire in order to subdue the flames and prevent it from growing and destroying Mosier.
I also commend UP for a speedy and attractive cleanup. Let’s pretend we weren’t so lucky.
The town of Mosier could have been destroyed, literally blown up and burned. Would there be desperate rallies and hearings in order to stop further increases in high-risk rail traffic through little towns?
No. Because there would be no question what the right thing to do would be. And that is to disallow a second track through Mosier and other similar communities.
Now, let us closely watch the Wasco County commissioners as they deliberate to do the right thing without undue influence from the railroad.
Commented