ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 23, 1996 TAG: 9603250021
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
NORFOLK SOUTHERN has jumped onto the Internet's information superhighway.
Norfolk Southern Corp., a transportation business whose roots are anchored in the 19th Century, has rolled onto what may be the communications mainline for the 21st Century - the Internet.
On Friday, NS launched a home page on the Internet's World Wide Web that offers background and information of interest to shippers, investors, journalists and rail fans. The Web address for the NS page is http://www.nscorp.com.
NS spokesman Rob Chapman said the company has been working for six to eight months to get its home page up and running. "It's exciting being on the cutting edge of a new medium," he said.
"The Thoroughbred of Transportation" declares NS's home page, which features a picture of a diesel locomotive coming straight at the viewer with its running lights on. From the page, computer users can click on an icon that calls up information about the company.
Another click will bring up a menu of information about NS's transportation services, including separate pages for each of the railroad's commodity groups and its industrial development efforts. Also there is a link to NS's customer service center in Atlanta. At some point, NS plans to allow customers to check on rates, track their shipments and handle billing through the Web site.
At still another click and stop along the information track, investors will find information about NS's common stock, financial information about quarterly and year-end performance, links to reports that NS files with the Securities and Exchange Commission and a list of various securities firms that provide research on NS.
A page designed to provide background information for journalists offers news releases, speeches by company executives and labor news.
The World Wide Web is a section of the Internet that provides information retrieval by pointing and clicking a computer mouse at various items or text on the computer screen.
The Internet, a global network of computer networks, is becoming an increasingly popular place for businesses to provide information about themselves or even to make sales. NS joins the CSX, Union Pacific and other major railroads already on the net.
LENGTH: Short : 49 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: NS' home pageby CNB