> end up with the most track they can run for the least money
ITYM "least track?"
The railraods are all obsessed with this metric called "capital ratio" which is the revenue intensity of their equipment.
Most of corporate america cares about "operating ratio" (how much money do you spend operating your business versus revenue). Railroads are a somewhat uniquely capital-intensive business, since they're the only transportation industry that owns and maintains their own roads. They consequently have come to see their best metric for efficiency is how small their capital asset base is, versus their revenue.
This leads to the joke that "the optimal railroad has no track and runs no trains."
ITYM "least track?"
The railraods are all obsessed with this metric called "capital ratio" which is the revenue intensity of their equipment.
Most of corporate america cares about "operating ratio" (how much money do you spend operating your business versus revenue). Railroads are a somewhat uniquely capital-intensive business, since they're the only transportation industry that owns and maintains their own roads. They consequently have come to see their best metric for efficiency is how small their capital asset base is, versus their revenue.
This leads to the joke that "the optimal railroad has no track and runs no trains."