1958 - Rail Head Favors Consolidation of Lines

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Roanoke Times - March 13, 1958	

Rail Head Favors Consolidation of Lines

   CHICAGO, March 12 (AP) - A railroad president said today he favors 
consolidation of the nations 220,000 miles of railroads into a limited 
number of large systems, "no more than 20 as a maximum and preferably a 
much smaller number."
   John W. Barringer, president of the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad Co. 
said large-scale consolidations could save the country's railroads a 
billion dollars a year.
   Barringer told the annual meeting of the American Railway Engineering 
Assn. that the carries need a billion dollars extra a year "to modernize 
their plant and revitalize their services".
   He said with the large-scale consolidations, the composition of two or 
possible three railroads, could be provided at the principal centers, 
except possibly in New England.

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- Ron Davis, Roger Link