North America
In North America, little used branch lines are often spun off from larger railroads to become new common carrier short-line railroads of their own. Throughout the United States and Canada, branch lines serve to link smaller towns or cities located too distant from the main line to be served efficiently. They were typically built to lower standards, utilizing lighter rail and shallow roadbeds when compared to main lines. In the United States, abandonment of unproductive branch lines was a byproduct of deregulation of the rail industry through the Staggers Act.
Read more about this topic: Branch Line
Famous quotes related to north america:
“I do not speak with any fondness but the language of coolest history, when I say that Boston commands attention as the town which was appointed in the destiny of nations to lead the civilization of North America.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The English were very backward to explore and settle the continent which they had stumbled upon. The French preceded them both in their attempts to colonize the continent of North America ... and in their first permanent settlement ... And the right of possession, naturally enough, was the one which England mainly respected and recognized in the case of Spain, of Portugal, and also of France, from the time of Henry VII.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)