![]() (in other words, in one section, the railroad would get the property north of the ROW while the Feds kept the property south of the ROW in the next section, the RR got the southern property, and the Feds kept the northern square). ![]() Second, the land grants (as opposed to ROW grants) were typically made in alternate squares on either side of the ROW. A Congressional study found that these requirements had paid for the value of the land grants many times over. ![]() ![]() First of all, in return for the land grants, the railroads had to handle government traffic at free or greatly reduced rates, and this requirement remained in effect through two world wars. The reason I use the term "arguably subsidized" is that most historical works dealing with the land grants don't understand the entire system, which actually made money for the Feds. Going back further in history, the Feds arguably "subsidized" railroad construction through land grant, dright of way granst and other related measures, but did not subsidize operations. They couldn't just wave a magic wand in the air and command the bankrupt roads to continue operations because (1) the bankrupt roads have the cash to do so, and (2) a requirement that a bankrupt company continue to provide services at a loss would be an unconsitutional "taking" of the bankrupt's property. At that point, the Feds had to subsidize operations of these properties, or the service would have stopped, which would have had adverse ripple effects across the whole US rail system. The major exception to this was when several major the northeast and midwest railroads collapsed in the 1970's. Looking back in history, there aren't too many examples of the Feds subsidizing operations of major freight railroads. I think something like this may have happened in connection with the sale of the Coos Bay line to the Port of Coos Bay, but I'm not sure. But it's entirely possible with a short line. I've never heard of this for a Class I in modern times (although, as you say, there could be something for a particular project). The only thing I would add is that there may be some Federal "earmarks" for specific freight railroads. ![]()
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