The engine is kept inside and only used for special occasions, isn’t it?

Yes, that would be the NEARS Conference, tomorrow.  This is a repeat performance.

I see this painting decision as a very simple one.  The owner of a privately-held company made the decision, there is no need for explanations or detailed analysis, and the job gets done.  It does not need to meet anyone else's requirements or judgments.  This is very different from a publicly-held corporation.  We would all be better off if the majority of US corporations, rather than publicly-traded and subject to SEC regulations and Wall Street sniping.  The thousands of significant, sizable companies in Germany that remain family-owned (and which dominate German industrial structure) are a good example of how powerful such an economy can be.  Even a company such as Henkel, at about 20 billion Euros in total global revenues, remains a family-owned global corporation.

No one cares what railfans think of company decisions.  How businesses function depends on the specific structure of the company. CSX is public, so the CEO is always running to keep ahead of the so-called "activist" investors that have been busy destroying companies and pushing out CEOs in the last twenty years in the US.   The activists force their way onto corporate boards, push fad schemes like PSR and grant about operating ratio targets until every last possible dime and employee is squeezed out.  The CEO by then has either had a heart attack or has been kicked out and replaced. There has been plenty of that in the North American railroad industry already.  Not a good way to manage a railroad, not good for long-term investment and growth, and never good for employees.  Yes-men survive at the top and individualists are shown the door.  Not the way US industry used to run, at all, and not healthy.

Dave Saums

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