ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Tuesday, April 15, 1997                TAG: 9704150082
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: B-5  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: NEWARK, N.J.
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

NORTHERNERS WANT CUT IN CONRAIL DEAL SOUTHERN COMPANIES SHOULDN'T MONOPOLIZE NORTHEAST, 4 RAILROADS SAY

The competitors want regulators to ensure that any division by CSX and Norfolk Southern preserves access for other carriers.

Saying the proposed carve-up of Conrail between two major railroads would merely ``replace a monopoly with a duopoly,'' four railroads have formed an alliance to open more competition in the Northeast.

Canadian National Railway Inc., which operates Canada's largest rail system, has joined three smaller railroads in proposing an alternative plan they call the ``Northeast Network.'' They want regulators to ensure that any division of Conrail preserves access for other carriers.

Norfolk Southern and CSX have announced an agreement to acquire Conrail and split it between them. Norfolk Southern will pay $5.9 billion for 58 percent of Conrail's assets and CSX will pay $4.3 billion for 42 percent.

CN warns that carving up Conrail between the two large, Southern-based railroads could subject parts of the Northeast, including New Jersey, to ``a tight stranglehold by two giants.''

CN's allies in the Northeast Network are the New York & Atlantic Railway, the New York Susquehanna & Western Railroad and the Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad.

They want state and federal regulators to require CSX and Norfolk Southern to provide open access for all carriers to the Port of New York and New Jersey, and to the port of Buffalo-Niagara Falls.

They also propose that CN or the New York Susquehanna & Western be allowed to purchase the Montreal Secondary rail line from Montreal to Syracuse to provide a competitive link to Canada. And they propose that regional carriers be given improved trackage rights in New York's Southern Tier region to preserve it as a feeder system to major interstate lines.

CN presented the Northeast Network proposal Monday to the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority and asked for that panel's support in seeking state and federal review of the Conrail takeover.

CSX and NS plan to file an application with the federal Surface Transportation Board for approval of their plan to divide Conrail. If approved, they could begin using Conrail lines by spring 1998.

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