[N&W] What is the real reason ... ???

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

Ben Blevins asks ...
 > WHAT IS THE REAL REASON THEY WON'T ALLOW EXCURSIONS ?

My guess is liability.

Things like true cost to run excursions, freight schedule interruptions and
personal dislike of steam or excursions are hard to call, but debatable. At
the same time, extreme liability is easy to figure and more difficult to
fault. Take the remote possibility of a half dozen full passenger cars
falling off a high trestle into a big ole river below ... the lawsuits could
put NS right out of business.

That crash scenario is extremely unlikely, but all the while still possible.
That's why we buy liability insurance for each trip, but I doubt $20 million
would cover the lawsuits for 300 riders drowning and the overage likely would
fall to NS ... possibly enough overage to bankrupt the company. My guess is
the sponsoring club (e.g., NRHS chapter) likewise would go under and possibly
the national organization, too. There's no telling how far the long arm of
the plaintiffs' legal beagles would reach -- chapter officers, NS board
members, wealthy chapter members ... you name it???

Ask yourself, would you put 100% of your financial assets on the line to
sponsor an excursion on, say, the Virginian from Mullens to Roanoke ... with
you holding 100% of the liability? Don't worry ... such an arrangement never
would be approved, but you get the idea that that is exactly what NS does
every time it runs an excursion (less the insurance).

Great idea ... bad math.

Enjoy the rails ... Bob Loehne, Present Day Steam Excursion Advocate
______________________________________________________________
In one word....LIABILITY!   There are many other reasons that went into the 
decision, but that was the biggest one.  The Lynchburg accident in 1994 was 
a wake-up call for NS management as far as liability was concerned.  They 
were extremely lucky that accident occurred with the empty excursion train 
and not with the train loaded with passengers.  The liability issue, 
combined with all of the many other factors were more than enough for NS 
management to quickly decide that it was time to end the steam program and 
that is exactly what they did.  Despite what many railfans may think, the 
steam program and excursions were not a profit generating venture.

It's quite laughable to hear railfans debate the PR value of steam 
excursions.  Valuable to whom?  Yes, the railfan community sees this as 
great PR and most of us certainly do wish that excursions were still run on 
a regular basis.  But when it comes to shippers, 99% only care about one 
thing.....that their freight makes it from point A to point B in a timely 
manner, in good shape and at a reasonable cost.  In reality, if you were to 
look into it, many shippers would be more apt to frown on steam or diesel 
passenger excursions since such movements are liable to delay their freight 
shipments.

Like it or not, people need to realize that times have changed and that the 
likelihood of excursions being run regularly again is not very 
probable.  And those who think that a company sponsored steam program will 
return to NS in the future are only kidding themselves.  About the best 
that can be expected would be for excursions sponsored by other groups to 
be welcomed more openly in the future.  But at this point, NS management 
must concentrate on their primary concern which is freight generated 
revenue that translates to PROFIT in the bottom line.

Chris Toth
______________________________________________________________
I would suspect that one of the main reasons for no excursions is the high 
cost of liability insurance. The last amount needed for an excursion that I 
heard about was somewhere around One Hundred Million dollars per outing. 
Think back to when NS ran the employee special that derailed and what they 
had to pay out to injured employees.

Alan Cox
______________________________________________________________
Ben, I share your frustration. Part of the answer is the cost of liability
insurance. A while back Delegate & Speaker of the House Vance Wilkins
placed a bill in the Va. General Assembly to support steam excursion in his
district (Virginia Central RR). The ten million dollar insurance coverage
for CSX right-a-way was outrageous per my discussions with Del. Wilkins. It
seems folks are eager to sue if there is an accident these days and the last
thing a RR wants is a law suit.

Roger Hofford
Salem, VA