MIDCONTINENT RAILROAD NETWORK TRENDS

The railroad network of the United States underwent vast changes during the decade of the 1980s, removing miles of excess capacity and responding to the pricing and service freedoms provided by the Staggers Act. The four-state area of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska lost about 5,000 railway mi, ending the decade with about 20,000 mi. These system changes are described in detail. Changes in the agricultural industry, major railroad mergers, bankruptcies, and reorganizations are identified. Network rationalization, public assistance programs, and intermodal facilities developments are assessed for each state. The following trends are anticipated to continue for the rail system in the region during the 1990s: (a) concentration of grain-gathering rail lines, (b) growth in intermodal traffic (bridge traffic), and (c) the shifting of the predominant grain traffic pattern from long-haul movements to the Gulf of Mexico to short-haul movements of grain within the region.