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

DATE: FRIDAY, May 14, 1993                   TAG: 9305140188
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: HOPE KELLER LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                LENGTH: Medium

NS AIMS FOR FLEXIBILITY

Last year was "relatively good" for Norfolk Southern Corp., despite a sluggish global market for coal, the transportation company's chief executive told shareholders Thursday.

While a weak export market and mild weather depressed coal transportation revenues 3 percent, merchandise revenues grew 7 percent, said Chairman David R. Goode.

Overall, Norfolk Southern's 1992 net income of $558 million, on revenues of $4.6 billion, was up 6 percent from the previous year, excluding a special charge in 1991.

"The global market is growing more complex. . . . We must anticipate better than our competitors the demands of tomorrow's transportation market, and we must have the flexibility to adjust faster when those demands change," he said at the annual meeting.

To make life simpler for customers, NS is teaming with other railroads, truckers, shipping lines and barge operators to offer a kind of one-stop shopping.

"We will rely more and more on partnerships," Goode said, citing Triple Crown Services, a partnership of NS and Conrail. Triple Crown, which uses containers that can be hauled by truck or rail, gives NS access to Conrail's Northeastern rails, and Conrail access to the NS Southern grid.

Asked about progress on a planned coal-storage facility in Isle of Wight County, Goode said regulatory hurdles were being cleared, albeit more slowly than expected. "We hope we're nearing the end of the permitting process," he said.

The Army Corps of Engineers issued its final environmental impact statement on the project this week and is taking public comment for 30 days.

Stockholders re-elected four directors to the NS board: former Virginia Gov. Gerald Baliles; Gene R. Carter, executive director of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development in Alexandria; E.B. Leisenring Jr., retired chairman of Penn Virginia Corp. of Philadelphia; and Arnold B. McKinnon, retired NS chairman. No one was elected to replace Director Robert B. Claytor, a former chairman and CEO of Norfolk Southern, who died last month.

by CNB