In a commentary entitled "Where are those short lines hiding?" in the February 2003 issue of Railway Age, contributing editor Roy Blanchard comments on the visibility of connecting short lines on Class I railway's websites.  Mr. Blanchard notes that not all Class Is choose to emphasize their partners.  Although short lines originating or terminating moves represent 20% of Class I revenues, five out of six Class I railway home pages give no clear path to the short lines.

Mr. Blanchard gives Canadian Pacific Railway a best-of-class award for short line pages that are easy to find and convey information on the short line's capabilities and service offerings.  Visitors to the CPR website only have to click on "Doing Business" from the home page and the "Rail Partners" link is right there.  On the other hand, the first mention of short lines is four clicks away from Canadian National Railways opening page.

The full text of Mr. Blanchard's comments can be found by visiting the Railway Age website at http://www.railwayage.com.

COPYRIGHT 2010 ASSOCIATION OF REGIONAL RAILWAYS OF CANADA.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Web Design by Pixelera.

[ ENSURE ALL INFORMATION IS PRINTED, CHOOSE LANDSCAPE ORIENTATION IN YOUR PRINT DIALOGUE BOX ]