Fewer Trains

Itself poked from behind by 0PM, the Association of American Railroads last week urged its members to discontinue little used or duplicate passenger services, cut down on others. OPM's reason: it wants the brakes put on railroad passenger-car production so that car-builders can speed output of 93,000 vitally needed freight cars now on order. Because a passenger car takes far more steel than a boxcar (55-65 tons v. 25 tons), this move would also loosen the pinch in steel.

A lesser reason for trimming passenger service is the spiral in military traffic. With each draftee making at least five moves in his first year, the Army expects to buy at least 7,000,000 railroad tickets this year. A curtailment in passenger traffic, already 20% ahead of last year, may prove necessary to accommodate the soldiers.

Railroad men were delighted to make one kind of curtailment. For 20 years they have filed applications with ICC and various State commissions, seeking permission to abandon unprofitable runs. The voters and the Brotherhoods have usually stood in their way. Last week, responding to the news from Washington, the Virginia State Corporation Commission told Southern Railway it could drop four whistle-stop passenger trains. Southern could now rip up some rails for scrap (see p. 57).

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