ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times

DATE: Wednesday, December 20, 1995           TAG: 9512200070
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: C-7  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS

NS KEEPS LEASE TO USE N.C. TRACKS

Private shareholders of North Carolina Railroad Co. have agreed to lease the company's track to Norfolk Southern Corp. for another 30 years.

The lease, which generated controversy among some Carolinians who thought NS was getting too good a deal, was approved by a two-thirds vote on Friday. It covers 317 miles of track from Morehead City on the Atlantic coast through Raleigh and Greensboro to Charlotte. The new lease contains a clause allowing a 20-year extension.

NS has used the track since 1884. It is 75 percent owned by the state of North Carolina, with the remainder privately owned by 800 stockholders. Critics among the stockholders, who say NS is not paying enough for the track rights, have filed lawsuits challenging the contract. The suits will continue.

Under the lease's terms, NS will pay $8 million annually for the use of the track. The amount is 13 times more than NS was paying under the previous agreement.

Shareholders opposed to the lease boycotted last week's meeting in an attempt to block a vote and thus kill the lease by denying the meeting a quorum. They failed by only 5,700 votes, or one-half of 1 percent of the 1.07 million shares held by private shareholders.

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