Show Stations May Be Closed on Railroads Tat Do Not Pay New York New Haven and Hart Hart- Hartford Hartford Hartford ford Railroad Gets Permission To close three Ninety-three Stations Court Orders Elimination of Service Service Service ice ice which Fails to Attract sufficient Patronage to be support Self ing Federal Judge C C. C C. Hincks re- re recentlY issued an order directing the New York New Haven Hartford Railroad to put into effect as promptly as possible as' as new passenger passenger passenger ger timetable schedules eliminating 83 88 station stops in Massachusetts and 5 in hi Rhode Island Judge Hin Hin- Hincks' Hincks Hincks' Hincks conclusions follow in part I 1 That during the last twenty years the chief contributory cause of the tine reduction in passenger traffic ra- ra rafic fic by rail is the increase of high high- highway highway highway way competition especially by the private automobile 2 Reorganization ion is legally and economically impossible for r a rail rait- railroad railroad road which cannot earn its oper oper- operating operating operating expenses Railroad labor is the largest single item of cost and it is impracticable if not impossible to negotiate for lower bower labor rates upon these lines Thus the only al alternative al- al alternative alternative is is the elimination el of service service ice which fails to attract sufficient patronage to be self 3 Continuation of passenger service upon the present basis will jeopardize the ability to render freight service which is indispensable indispensable indispensable sable to the territory served A privately pr owned railroad can can- cannot cannot cannot not operate without capital 4 The changes sought are arc in inthe inthe inthe the public interest The changes will unfortunately cause inconvenience inconvenience to some But it will also make for faster and more satisfactory service to others It is clear that the public interest in the long run will vilI best be served by b a policy which is calculated to protect in in in- indispensable dispensable freight service and to preserve that portion of the pas pas- passenger passenger passenger service which is shown by experience to be the tine more vital tal ra ra- rather rather ra- ra ther tiner Jhan than a policy poli which is daily bringing nearer the destruction of the tire entire enterprise 5 Failure to grant the tine relief sought would result in the thern of cation cation private property r |