4 | American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association BUSINESS WORLD: Some specific short-line operators have been able to capitalize when larger railroads no longer had interest in certain lines, by going in and cultivating business. Is that a fairly pretty common theme among short lines? DAVID MEARS: It is. Because of the fact that short lines are local, often have greater flexibility than the larger railroads in terms of responsiveness to customer needs and also because they have lesser overhead, they can be quite competitive in providing rail service, whereas a larger railroad may not have been quite so capable. BW: Is the industry sustaining itself for reasons of customer satisfaction, too? MEARS: That is correct.That’s exactly right. It’s there as a viable business entity, a viable business model. Short lines are providing a vital need in terms of getting goods to and from market. BW: Is there a great deal of variance in short lines between large and small, or are they fairly uniform in size? MEARS: Some of the largest are several hundred miles in length, and the smallest may be one or two miles in length. BW: As far as the membership goes, are you mainly some of the bigger ones? Or are you a little bit of all?
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