Download or read book Economies of Size and Density for Short Line Railroads written by Frank J. Dooley and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report describes a study that analyzes the extent that economies of size and density are available to short line railroads. The objectives of this study were: (1) To provide additional information about the reasons for and the nature of the evolution of the short line railroad industry; (2) To examine and further develop the theoretical framework of cost for the short line railroad industry; (3) To develop theoretically consistent estimates of short line costs using a short line simulation costing model; and (4) To provide guidelines to assist the rail industry, rail labor, and state and federal policy-makers adjust to the changing structure of the rail industry. Size economies are limited for short line railroads. However, increasing traffic density offers significant opportunities for lowering costs. Increasing the traffic density from 20 to 30 cars per mile lowers average total costs by 30%. The elasticity of total cost with respect to density was 0.16. Thus, the concern with new short lines should be with the traffic density, not the size of the network.