On Mon, 3 Oct 2005 21:41:43 -0000, Dave wrote:

seems strange, and not very practical.

There is an element of both I agree and the locomotive environment, except
in the newer ones, can be a bit hairy. Whether or not the concept is valid,
that's for DHS to decide and they already have.

The driving force behind this, imo, is that during NOLA no effort was made
to use the RR as a means of evac. Several of the lines offered but FEMA
refused. Instead, Carnival made off like a bandit with 1/3 full ships but
3/3 full government pay.

In order to evac, the RR would need to run flat out and with an evac
traffic surge, crossings become more critical.
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