Alternative Energy Blues

https://youtu.be/1WKLskz1w9k https://youtu.be/iJCDDmBPdHs Crush the Street with guest Jeff

CSX Transportation has finalized property sales totalling $53 million.  Of that amount $43 million involved the sale of two shortline railroads and the conversion of two leased roads to formal sales.  Properties of some other type were sold totalling $10 million. Earlier this year, 2018, CSX did a review of 8,000 miles of their approximately 21,000 miles of railroad to determine if it would be better to keep or sell. According to Trains Magazine and Progressive Railroading, CSX decided to put up six shortlines totalling 850 miles.  So, four of those shortlines are still up in the air. One delay in closing the sales on those remaining four, might be that the various shortline conglomerates in the bidding might go from being Class II companies to Class I companies.  Apparently reclassification would cause their costs to go up as far as financial reporting and federal regulations are concerned. 

Throughout these essays I make a number of assertions.  Maybe the point of this series is to do the research to prove or disprove these claims below. Please note that railroads in the United States are overwhelmingly privately owned, for profit corporations.  They're freight companies that allow the federally owner passenger service, Amtrak, to run on their lines.  1) My main allegation is that no brand new, never before seen, railroad has been allowed by law in the United States since 1890. 2) The Class I railroad corporations generally influence all railroad legislation and legislators through campaign donations, honorariums, and other forms of legalized bribery. 3) While the Surface Transportation Board places some limits on American railroad businesses it appears to suffer from regulatory capture. (These two claims above make the railroad industry and government oversight organizations no different than many other federally regulated companies in the US.) ...

When I think of the life and legacy of the 21st Century railroad empire builder and most visible proponent of precision railroad scheduling, E. Hunter Harrison, I consider the final weeks of the life of William the Conqueror.   That railroad baron wannabe spread his STD, that is, Surface Transportation Disorder of Precision Scheduled Railroading, PSR, from CN to Canadian Pacifice railroad and finally to CSX Transportation.  We could have hoped it stopped there but no.  PSR is now spreading to Union Pacific. Here's a definition of Precision Scheduled Railroading, PSR, from Progressive Railroading "PSR is designed to improve service reliability, boost operating efficiency and reduce network complexity by shifting the operational focus from moving trains to moving individual rail cars. The goals: minimize car dwell time and classification events, reduce locomotive requirements and balance train movements to improve crew and asset utilization." Here's what it rea...

So CSX Transportation has been selling off six parts of itself this year, 2018, to create new shortline freight railroads.  So, how come no analyst is pointing out the revenues from those sales?  And why is the amount of debt on their books growing? The company looks way profitable.  If I was an owner, investor, or analyst, then I would say CSX Transportation railroads are buy or hold. Just tell us why the quarterly reports don't mention the sales of these six shortlines? And what's the cause of the increasing debt on their books?  Could the debt be from getting bank loans to make stock buybacks?  That certainly boosts the value of a company's remaining stock.  Have the increased revenues and the amazing earnings ratio of CSX be due to sales of these shortlines rather than increased volume of business and more efficient use of resources? The sales aren't clearly listed and the debts aren't clearly explained. I Come From the L and of Enron Perhaps...

Finally.   I received a copy of "Solutionary Rail: A people-powered campaign to electrify America's railroads and open corridors to a clean energy future." Take a look at their website. http://www.solutionaryrail.org A large group of people have researched and written about almost everything that I have.  It's by Bill Moyer.  Based on the introduction by Bill Mckibben and the table of contents, he's come to the same conclusions that I have. I just started reading, skimming, and scanning the book this evening while my friend Scarlet O'Hara does her taxes.  A special thanks to IHOP for being a home for the studious.  Scarlett got us a table next to the plug. Below are a few of the Chapters and bullet points.  "Chapter 2 - Rail Electrification's Many Advantages Rail's Efficiency Advantages Leveraging Rail Electrification to Grow Renewable Energy Electrification Reduces Air Pollution and Highway Deaths Chapter 3 - Restoring A Balanced Transpo...