Dan, as well reasoned and as congenial as your post is I have to disagree with it on a basic level. Simply put, I don't believe the CHS can EVER run the railroad as efficiently as the GTL Inc. did! They now insist on owning all of the equipment (I'm sure a result of lessons learned in 2004!) but are woefully deficient at proper management! Everything is reactive rather than proactive and the result is massive waste of taxpayer $$$$$!
I'm not just "ragging" on the CHS but am making an indightment of ALL Govt. efforts to try and match private enterprise! Govt. fails nearly every time!
Look, I want the Loop to succeed as much as you do but the situation isn't getting better! It's the third year now and promises that were made have nearly all been broken! In case people don't remember how it ACTUALLY happened there are those of us that will continue to "keep the record straight." (Funny, the one thing Govt. bureaucrats ARE good at is "spinning" the truth with enough "factoids" that soon people start believing it and the truth be damned!)
Why are Bell and Behrens still around? With the mis-management and bungling that has occurred one would have thought that SOMEONE would have had the courage to "suggest" that it was time for a change! The fact that they are still here and still calling the shots only emphasizes my point! Those two are definitely in it up to their eyebrows and you can smell the stench all the way over here in Kansas!
The CHS has no love for the GTL Inc. that's for sure! They thwarted the attempted coup when they picked up their trains and left! I thought it was rather amusing when the CHS contacted the people at the CRRM to find out about "acquiring" the rolling stock and were told that they would have to talk to Mark and the GTL Inc. as they still owned everything! Oh yes! there was some EXTREMELY nasty behind-the-scenes skullduggery going on! So why, oh why, are the two architects of this debacle still running things? I really would like to know as I have lost all respect for the CHS because of them!
