NS BOOSTS ITS CAPITAL SPENDING

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

DATE: THURSDAY, January 7, 1993                   TAG: 9301070082
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DANIEL HOWES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
NS BOOSTS ITS CAPITAL SPENDING
Norfolk Southern Corp. said Wednesday it will spend about $680 million on railway improvements this year, equaling its capital outlays for anytime in the past 10 years.
Last year, the Norfolk-based transportation company spent an estimated $629 on capital projects across its 20-state system.
Officials said the company plans to spend $55.1 million to rebody 3,000 coal hoppers in the Roanoke Car Shops on East Campbell Avenue. NS already has spent $220 million to rebody 11,000 coal cars.
The Roanoke shop's 380 workers crank out 12 new cars each day, or about 3,500 each year, Chairman David Goode said in a speech Wednesday to the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce. Last summer, a program to rebody 2,000 coal gondolas was begun and should be completed in March.
More than $662 million of the $680 million will be spent on new projects; the remainder will go to projects approved in previous years. Some $250 million is budgeted for the railroad's rail, crosstie and ballast programs.
Five new or expanded intermodal facilities - including one in Roanoke - are planned, as are two new bulk distribution facilities and an auto facility for the German carmaker BMW in Greer, S.C. Officials said the plans for the Roanoke site still are being drafted and they declined to say how much the company plans to spend on the project.
Spending on equipment will include $62.5 million for new locomotives and $33.4 million for new freight cars, including 626 auto racks and 100 coil steel gondolas. Another $93.7 million has been budgeted for freight car improvements, $55.1 million of that to rebody 3,000 coal cars.
The company also said it has authorized North American Van Lines Inc., its Indiana-based trucking subsidiary, to spend $51.7 million on new capital projects this year. Another $25.2 million in capital spending also has been authorized for Norfolk Southern's Triple Crown Services Inc. unit.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB