ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, September 19, 1996 TAG: 9609190082
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS
Norfolk Southern Corp. normally is tight-lipped when the subject is railroad mergers. So it was a bit surprising last week when NS Chairman David Goode brought up the subject in a speech to the Traffic Club of Chicago.
Mergers this year in the West - of Burlington Northern and Santa Fe, and Union Pacific and Southern Pacific - have reduced the number of major U.S. railroads from seven to five, he noted, adding, ``Rail mergers are likely to continue, because they are a key tool in our quest to satisfy our customers' demands for flexible, quality transportation.'' Goode didn't say whether NS has any merger plans.
Future mergers, Goode said, will be driven less by potential savings than by the need to provide better service. But mergers aren't the entire answer, he said.
"Railroads have a big responsibility to operate an efficient transportation system, and we will have to solve the service equation by working together, with or without mergers," Goode said.
LENGTH: Short : 28 linesby CNB