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The 
Operating Plan
"Norfolk Southern's operation and integration of Conrail lines with the existing NS system will restore and enhance rail competition and will improve rail efficiency throughout the East.
The restructured rail systems will build upon the two carrier competition between Norfolk Southern and CSX Transportation that has thrived in the Southeast for two decades. The increase in transportation efficiency also will be two-fold, because Norfolk Southern and CSXT each will try to outperform the other in the marketplace with safer, faster, and more reliable rail transportation services.
The Operating Plan filed with the federal Surface Transportation Board explains operation of the New Norfolk Southern's expanded 21,400-mile system in 22 states and the Province of Ontario, Canada, and details service efficiencies and cost savings.
Norfolk Southern will invest more than $700 million in construction and improvement projects to allow seamless movement of freight between Conrail routes operated by NS and the current NS system and better connections with other railroads, such as Union Pacific and Illinois Central.
This integration of routes is the key to delivering more competition coupled with more and better single system service. Und er the Operating Plan the number of rail shipments that will move by one railroad rather than two will greatly increase. This improved efficiency is particularly important for service sensitive intermodal and automotive customers.
Rail users throughout the country will benefit because most rail freight crosses regional boundaries. In the East and Midwest, shippers will be able to expand their market reach, while customers will be able to choose from more suppliers. In addition, the restructuring will eliminate more than one million truck trips from eastern and mid-western highways each year -- diverting 589,000 truckloads annually to Norfolk Southern alone. Highway traffic congestion, fuel consumption, accidents, and pollution will be reduced, and highway maintenance costs will decline.
For coal producers, the Operating Plan shows that the New Norfolk Southern System will provide direct access to many more customers. Coal volume moving between current NS lines and NS-operated Conrail lines will grow from 4 million tons in 1996 to an estimated 12 million tons in several years and even greater amounts in the future.
For intermodal customers, single line routings will significantly improve speed and reliability on lines linking current Norfolk Southern markets in the Southeast and Midwest with current Conrail northeastern markets. For example, new service will be added along Norfolk Southern's new Shenandoah Route, which connects New York, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh to Norfolk Southern points in the Southeast and to the West via New Orleans. Transit times between the Southeast and Northeast will be reduced through more efficient routings, and additional corridors will be cleared to allow double-stack container service.
For automobile manufacturers, the New Norfolk Southern System will speed delivery of new vehicles to dealers over new single system routes. More than 19,000 carloads of new vehicles and more than 21,000 carloads of parts will gain single line routing under the Operating Plan. The New Norfolk Southern System network is designed to move 90 percent of available vehicle traffic in dedicated trains, reducing transit time and damage.
For chemicals customers, most of which provide their own railcars, the New Norfolk Southern System service network will i mprove equipment utilization by eliminating costly delays in transferring shipments between Norfolk Southern and Conrail. Assuming a 24-hour service improvement for only the 18,000 carloads of chemicals traffic interchanged between NS and Conrail in 1996, these customers could save an estimated $360,000 in annual equipment costs.
The New Norfolk Southern System will add or improve three service routes to link the Northeast and the Midwest:
The Penn Route will be the shortest rail route between northern New Jersey and Chicago. More than $300 million will be invested during the first three years of operation of the New Norfolk Southern System for substantial clearance and capacity improvements for traffic growth, particularly for intermodal and automotive traffic. New auto terminals will be built in the Philadelphia and Baltimore areas, and intermodal terminals will be built, expanded, or improved in northern New Jersey, the Philadelphia area, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg (Rutherford), and Allentown, Pennsylvania, and Baltimore.
The Southern Tier Route will integrate Conrail's Southern Tier Line across New York State with Norfolk Southern's existing Buffalo-Cleveland line. This new route will be an important New Norfolk Southern System double-stack route into the New York metropolitan area market and will provide access to connecting carriers serving New England. Norfolk Southern will invest approximately $35 million during the first three years of operation, making the route more efficient. These improvements will be much needed, because the Operating Plan projects that the New Norfolk Southern System will run eight through trains per day on this route, in addition to CP/St. Lawrence & Hudson and New York, Susquehanna & Western operations that now use and will continue to use the Southern Tier Line under existing trackage and haulage rights.
The Southwest Gateway Route will connect Norfolk Southern's Kansas City line with Conrail lines at Vermilion, Ohio, and Butler, Indiana, for connection with the Penn Route. This new route will bypass the congested Chicago and St. Louis gateways. Norfolk Southern will invest more than $55 million in the route during the first three years of opera t ion for capacity improvements and new connections. Connections at Sidney, Illinois, with Union Pacific and at Tolono, Illinois, with Illinois Central will offer competitive service for heavy petrochemical and other flows between the Northeast and southwestern and Gulf Coast states.
Four major New Norfolk Southern System routes will spur improved service between the Northeast and Southeast:
The Piedmont Route will connect these regions using two corridors north of Manassas, Virginia. One leg via Allentown and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Hagerstown, Maryland, will carry freight between the Southeast and the Philadelphia area; it also will be the clearance route for double-stack and multilevel (vehicle) traffic. The second route will use Amtrak's Northeast Corridor via Baltimore, Wilmington, Delaware, and Philadelphia for southeastern traffic and for Triple Crown Road-Railer(r) service. New Road-Railer(r) terminals will be built along this route in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Charlotte, North Carolina.
The Shenandoah Route will handle northeastern traffic via Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Roanoke, Virginia, and Knoxville and Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Atlanta and via the New Orleans and Memphis gateways to the West. More than $33 million will be invested in this route for sidings as well as double-stack clearances between Front Royal and Roanoke, Virginia. This route parallels Interstate 81, and the New Norfolk Southern System expects to draw significant general merchandise and intermodal freight from trucks to rail service on this route. Coal between Central Appalachian coal fields and the Northeast also will move via this route.
The Mid-South Route will extend from Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh to the Southeast via Cincinnati. Most of this route already is cleared to handle domestic double-stack traffic, and planned capital investments will provide the remaining clearances, add track capacity, and expand intermodal terminals at Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio. This route will be particularly beneficial to automotive customers expected to move heavy volumes of time-sensitive traffic.
The Bridge Route will connect the Southeast with Upstate New York, Canada, and New England through Harrisburg. Much of this route will consist of Norfolk Southern haulage over CP/St. Lawrence & Hudson from Sunbury, Pennsylvania, to Albany, New York, via Binghamton, New York. CP and Norfolk Southern will invest more th an $11 million in the Sunbury line to enable it to handle domestic double-stacks and heavy freight. Paper, clay and intermodal traffic will be the principal commodities handled.
Three markets -- Detroit, northern New Jersey, and the southern New Jersey/Philadelphia area -- will be within new "Shared Assets Areas." Rail customers within these Shared Assets Areas will have direct two-carrier competition through access to both the New Norfolk Southern System and CSXT. In other areas, special arrangements will ensure competitive rail service. For example, Norfolk Southern will operate former Monongahela Railway lines serving the coal mining region south of Pittsburgh, one of Conrail's largest markets, and CSXT will have direct access to all customers. In Indiana polis and six other markets in Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois, NS and CSXT will exchange trackage and other rights to preserve competition.
When the New Norfolk Southern System Operating Plan is fully implemented, the estimated public benefit is almost $500 m illion. These public benefits consist of the following approximate amounts: $255 in operating savings, $90 million in shipper logistics costs reductions, $80 million in rate-related competitive effects, and $45 million in reduced highway costs as a result of truck to rail diversion of traffic." (Norfolk Southern Web site, Dec 1998)
NRHS and its
logo are trademarks of the National Railway Historical Society
The logos for
Conrail, CSX, Norfolk Southern, and Amtrak are trademarks of
their respective organizations.
Photos are by Chris Behe unless otherwise noted.
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