Word: rail
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...analyses in the U.S. press have suggested that Vorster agreed to put the economic screws to Smith's regime--threatening to cut off water and close down the country's only rail link to the ocean--because of weakened internal support in the face of rioting and strikes. Pogrund perceives that just the opposite is true. The new turmoil has strengthened Vorster's hand, he says, and this revived support among the frightened white minority freed Vorster to shove Smith...
...Minerals,'" Pogrund says, "that means copper. Kaunda [Kenneth D. Kaunda, the president of Zambia, which shares the same rail line] depends on copper for his survival. The railway through Angola was destroyed during the war; he has to send the copper through South Africa. He may be distressed that his black brothers are being discriminated against, but he'll strike a deal with Vorster...
...minds of downtrodden U.S. commuters and rail travelers, the very mention of Japan conjures up visions of superfast trains and a superefficient railroad system. To a degree, the image is justified. The futuristic Shinkansen, or "bullet" trains, whisk passengers as far as 735 miles from Tokyo to Fukuoka City in the southernmost main island of Kyushu in six hours flat amid plush comfort. That trip costs only $31.15 for a one-way economy-class ticket with a $20.70 surcharge for first-class...
Among the J N.R.'s 256 separate rail lines, only the bullet trains and two of Tokyo's urban services turn profits. The rest lose money at a rate that makes the old Penn Central's losses trivial by comparison. One example: the Biko line, which serves a sparsely populated area on the island of Hokkaido, has outlays of $11 for every 34? it earns. In the past twelve years, the Japanese National Railway has piled up a staggering debt of $34 billion; at present it is losing money at the rate of $8.6 million...
...Japanese are caught in the classic cost-fare squeeze that has ruined rail service throughout much of the world. The J.N.R. is the nation's largest employer with 430,000 workers on its payrolls. Because the seven railroad unions are among the most militant in Japan, they have prevented the line from cutting jobs in order to save money. At the same time, the railroad has been barred by the Japanese government from eliminating unprofitable service in rural areas and from raising fares to bring them in line with operating costs; fares are so unrealistically low that last year...