Book Reviews

Anthony M. Pagan of the University of Illinois at Chicago reviews “American Railroads: Decline and Renaissance in the Twentieth Century”, by Robert E. Gallamore and John R. Meyer. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Explores the story of the railroad industry that dominated U.S. freight transportation over land at the beginning of the twentieth century, and how it lost its leadership and much of its economic power over the next eighty years, and then was reborn in the last two decades of the century. Discusses the enduring American railroads; the ills of government regulation of rail rates and services; the policy dilemma of competition and consolidation; the impact of rival freight modes on railroads; the decline of railway passenger service, 1900-1970; mergers at midcentury and the Penn Central debacle; two railroad reform and revitalization acts and the Northeast Rail Crisis in the 1970s; the brief, mainly happy life of Conrail, 1976-99; the making of the Staggers Rail Act, and experience under deregulation; how railroads got their final sizes and shapes; the enduring problem of rail passenger service in the Amtrak era; advancing technology for American railroads; the decline and renaissance of American railroads in the twentieth century; and future policies for U.S. railroads. Gallamore retired from the Union Pacific Railroad and Northwestern University, and is Adjunct Professor in the Rail Management Program at Michigan State University. The late Meyer was James W. Harpel Professor of Capital Formation Emeritus in the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.”