Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T13:32:32.610Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Decline of Railroad Commutation*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2012

George W Hilton
George W Hilton
Affiliation:
Lecturer in Business Administration, University of California, Berkeley
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article traces the economic factors in the decline of the railroad commuter business and examines the recent public-policy issues. The author is extremely skeptical of the rebirth of railroad commutation under any institutional arrangements and predicts further decline and possibly eventual extinction.

Type
Research Article
Information
Business History Review , Volume 36 , Issue 2 , Summer 1962 , pp. 171 - 187
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 1962

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Nelson, James C., Railroad Transportation and Public Policy (Washington, D. C., Brookings Institution, 1959), p. 20.Google Scholar

2 Yearbook of Railroad Information, 1960 ed., p. 51.

3 Ibid., p. 37.

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid.

6 Southern Pacific Company, California Public Utilities Commission Application, June 22, 1960, Statement E.

7 Rapid Transit Systems in Six Metropolitan Areas, Staff report prepared for the Joint Committee on Washington Metropolitan Problems, 86th Cong., 1st Sess. (1959), p. 6.

8 Yearbook of Railroad Information, 1960 ed., p. 36.

9 Howard Hosmer, et al., “Railroad Passenger Train Deficit,” ICC docket No. 31954 (1958), p. 18.

10 Typescript data furnished by Illinois Central Railroad, 1960.

11 Hosmer, “Railroad Deficit,” p. 50.

12 Brooks-Scanlon Co. v. Railroad Commission, 251 U. S. 396 (1920).

13 Abandonment of Branch Line by Southern Pacific Co., 72 ICC 404.

14 Chicago Milwaukee St. Paul & Pacific RR v. Illinois, 355 U. S. 300 (1958).

15 Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee Ry. Abandonment, 312 ICC 49.

16 Press release of Southern Pacific Company (1960).

17 Lehigh Valley Railroad Company Discontinuance of Service, AU Passenger Operations, 307 ICC 239.

18 Railway Age, April 28, 1958, p. 35.

19 Ibid., June 2, 1958, Aug. 4, 1958; The New York Times, July 1, 1959, p. 23.

20 Moody's Transportation Manual, 1959, p. 519.

21 Headlights, Vol. XX (Oct. I960), pp. 5–6.

22 Railway Age, Sept. 29, 1958, p. 14.

23 Ibid., Sept. 14, 1959, p. 56.

24 Trains, Dec, 1960, p. 6.

25 Dwight R. G. Palmer, “A Proposal Toward Solving New Jersey's Transportation Problem,” Report of the New Jersey Commissioner of Highways to Governor Robert B. Meyner, June 15, 1959; press release of Governor Meyner, June 16, 1959.

26 “New Jersey to Contract for Commuter Services,” Public Management, Vol. XLII (1960), pp. 183–184.

27 Press release of New Jersey State Highway Department, July 27, 1961.

28 The New York Times, July 1, 1961, p. 6.

29 Ibid., May 5, I960, p. 1.

30 Railway Age, Sept. 14, 1959, p. 56.

31 City of Philadelphia, Urban Traffic and Transportation Board, “Analysis of Operation Northwest” (1959), p. 4.

32 Owen, Wilfred, The Metropolitan Transportation Problem (Washington, Brookings Institution, 1956), p. 87.Google Scholar

33 Ibid., p. 49.

34 Owen, Wilfred, Automotive Transportation (Washington, Brookings Institution, 1949), pp. 124–127.Google Scholar

35 Rapid Transit Systems in Six Metropolitan Areas, p. 12.

36 McDonald, J. W., “The Case for the Freeways,” Highway Highlights (July-Aug, 1960), p. 13.Google Scholar

37 Hosmer, “Railroad Deficit,” p. 48.

38 Haefele, Edwin T., “Subsidizing Mass Transportation in the Chicago Metropolitan Area” (Mimeographed, Northwestern University Transportation Center, 1959), p. 1.Google Scholar

39 Marshall, Alfred, Principles of Economics (8th ed.; London, 1920), p. 103.Google Scholar

40 Owen, The Metropolitan Transportation Problem, p. 36.

41 “Analysis of Operation Northwest,” Aug. 29, 1960.

42 Press release of Metropolitan Transit Authority, Aug. 29, 1960.

43 Harriss, C. Lowell, “Automobile Taxation and Congestion,” American Economic Review, Vol. XLVII (1957), pp. 152–154.Google Scholar

44 Grey, Arthur L. Jr, “Los Angeles: Urban Prototype,” Land Economies, Vol. XXXV (1959), pp. 232–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

45 Owen, The Metropolitan Transportation Problem, p. 34.

46 Hosmer, “Railroad Deficit,” pp. 69–70.