ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 2, 1990                   TAG: 9006020079
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

NORFOLK SOUTHERN LEASES N.C. LINE

Norfolk Southern said it has leased a 23-mile line between Hickory and Lenoir, N.C. to a Thoroughbred Shortline operation of the Carolina & Northwestern Railroad. Rail Link of Petersburg, owner of a number of short lines and industry switching services, owns the Carolina company.

With this action, NS said it has completed a program of cutting 3,500 miles from its system of 18,450 miles when Norfolk and Western and the Southern merged in 1982. This brings the NS system down to 14,600 miles. This restructuring is necessary to make the rail company competitive in "today's tougher, international markets," said Arnold McKinnon, NS chairman. In the last 2 1/2 years, NS has abandoned 1,400 miles of track, transferred 1,300 miles to short line operators and sold and subleased 800 miles to the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway.

NS still has 4,000 miles of branch lines in its system, McKinnon said, and it will explore "innovative strategies" such as use of the short line program, improved labor agreements and more aggressive marketing and operating plans to improve their competitiveness. The NS system of 14,600 miles compares with 19,200 miles of railroad operated by its rival, CSX Transportation.

- Staff report 


 by CNB