Beadles Blog
Dick Beadles, an organizer and founding member of the
Virginia Rail Policy Institute board, as well as being a VRPI fellow, is
an independent rail and transportation analyst, commentator and critic. He has had extensive experience in both rail transportation and urban real estate asset management and development. Originally an up-from-the-ranks railroader, becoming President of the RF & P Railroad, Beadles has had more than fifty years experience as both a practitioner, as well as follower, of transportation and land planning, development and asset management with both the RF & P and CSX.
His cogent comments and observations are his views, and have not been adopted as policy statements by the Virginia Rail Policy Institute.
Read his blogs exclusively here. Send Dick an email.
NEW:
November 2011
VA Amtrak Travel Exceeds Capacity
Transportation Funding Challenges
October 2011
Entitlements; Social and Transportation
Opportunity Knocks for Rail Freight
September 2011
August 2011
Transportation and Tea Party Politics - I
Transportation and Tea Party Politics - II
July 2011
Taking the Trash Out - by the Trainload
The Poughkeepsie Bridge and Rail Prosperity
June 2011
Virginia's Stake in the Northeast Rail Corridor
May 2011
Petersburg, Roanoke River, and DC
Why Railroads are so "Difficult"
April 2011
VA HSR - Fog, Bluster, & Posturing?
"World Class" Rail on Single Track?
March 2011
Ports, Ships, Trains, & Tracks
February 2011
A Vision of Trains and Windmills?
January 2011
No Free Ride in Transportation
December 2010:
If We Are Serious About Rail ...
November 2010:
Election Implications for Rail
October 2010:
The Consequences of Rail Deregulation
September 2010:
Needed: RAIL IM Net On-and-Off Ramps
Can Rail Make a Dent in Trucking?
August 2010:
Those Freight RR TV Commercials
July 2010:
A Final Round of Big RR Mergers
June 2010:
May 2010:
Rails to Raleigh, the North Carolina Way A neighbor to envy and emulate
April 2010:
Mining Rail Nuggets from Annual Reports The recent picture.
Virginia's Remarkable Rail Turnaround What's changed?
March 2010:
Industrial Sprawl and Rusty Rails, the extinction of the rail mode.
Warren Buffett, Railroads and Virginia observations and impacts.
February 2010:
The Practical Limits of Productivity and an all-weather transportation mode.
Virginia Population, Jobs, and Rail Freight considers the shocking loss of manufacturing jobs from the area, and its impact on rail freight.
January 2010:
A Plan for Hampton Roads Rail lays forth seven key steps to improve rail infrastructure into Virginia's critical port area.
See Facing Domestic Transport Realities for an analysis of the latest report from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics about the share of domestic freight carried by each mode.
My two December blogs, "A Christmas Train Puzzle" and "Rail Improvement Stocking Stuffers" round out the twenty-four issues of Observations and Comments for 2009. Happy New Year!
(c) copyright 2010-11 Richard L. Beadles
Send rail policy questions, and questions about VRPI here.
Send mail to our webmaster with questions or comments about this web site.
