The Financial Viability of Conrail Page: 1
xii, 80 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this report.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
-1-
CHAPTER 1
SUMMARY
PURPOSE AND APPROACH
This report examines the financial outlook for ConRail,
the railroad entity proposed by the United States Railway
Association (USRA) to acquire the bulk of the railroad assets
and operating responsibilities of the bankrupt Northeast rail-
roads. On July 26, 1975, USRA dispatched to the Congress its
Final Systems Plan (FSP), or "blueprint", for reorganizing the
bankrupt railroads now responsible for 22,200 miles of track.
Early in 1975, in accordance with the 1973 Regional Rail Reor-
ganization Act, USRA published a Preliminary Systems Plan (PSP)
to which the public, creditors, shippers, ICC and other inter-
ested parties responded.
The approach of this report is to examine the critical as-
sumptions affecting ConRail's financial viability using back-
ground data developed by USRA, the views of the key parties and
independent analysis. Not surprisingly, ConRail's financial
future depends on (a) how fast its revenues can grow, (b) whether
it can reduce its operating expenses per ton mile of freight
carried by improving efficiency, and (c) how much it must pay
to acquire capital assets from the bankrupts and upgrade such track
and equipment to give better and lower cost service. This re-
port provides an independent assessment of how the decisive fac-
tors in each of these areas might be expected to develop between
now and 1985. It concludes with an analysis of what these out-
comes may mean in terms of the three critical financial questions
facing the Congress as it weighs the ConRail proposal in reaching its
November 1975 decision:
* What is the size of the Federal government's subsidy
to start and sustain ConRail?
" Is it realistic to plan on an "income-based" reorgani-
zation? That is, can ConRail be expected, in 1979 as
projected by USRA, or ever, to make profits adequate
to shift it from public to private ownership?
e Finally, if the forecast shows that ConRail will en-
counter financial problems more serious than contem-
plated by USRA, are there superior alternative approaches?
Can these be implemented now or can acceptance of the USRA
ConRail proposal be viewed as the first step toward such
options?
THE BASIC FINANCIAL PROJECTION
USRA'S report to the Congress projects modest increases in
revenue and dramatic improvements in operating efficiency. These
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This report can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Report.
United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment. The Financial Viability of Conrail, report, September 1975; [Washington D.C.]. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc39342/m1/10/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.