7,200 more route miles
open up new markets
to NS' precision service

Click to enlarge These Conway Yard towers at Pittsburgh provide sand, fuel and water for locomotives. After NS begins operating a portion of Conrail's routes and assets, this yard will be NS' largest.

Learning the new territory

"The Conrail transaction adds tremendously to NS' reach - 7,200 route miles - and opens up Northeastern markets," says Tony Ingram. In addition, it directly connects the Northeast with markets in the South and Southwest, where NS already has major connections.

Ingram, a 28-year railroad veteran, is responsible for NS' operations in its new Northern Region. It's made up of three divisions - Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, and Dearborn. Since May 1997, Ingram has been leading a team to develop the operating plan for the Northern Region.

"The plan indicates how many trains we'll be operating, where they're running, and when," he says. It also has involved redesigning rail routes to accommodate the larger NS territory. "One advantage of adding Conrail routes to the NS system," he continues, "is that we can provide single-line service over longer distances."

Dave Brown assisted Ingram with refining the operating plan and train schedules. Several hundred employees on more than 100 teams have helped the pair. Many were Conrail employees.

Tony Ingram NS General Manager- Northern Region, Transportation department, Philadelphia, 28 years' service

Dave Brown NS Assistant General Manager- Northern Region, Transportation department, Philadelphia, 18 years' service

"We asked for input, and then we based our crew plan on their information," Brown says. "We worked with Conrail managers to determine where crews should be located and how many we needed."

After the transaction, Ingram will oversee the operating plan and supervise train operations in the Northern Region. Brown will continue to assist him.

"Our most important consideration has been putting a plan in place to serve customers efficiently and safely beginning Day One," Brown says.

"We can't overstate the significance of this new opportunity," he continues. "We have a first-class plan, and we have first-class people who know how to do what needs to be done."

Designing service for customers

Operating a larger NS system requires integrating Conrail's routes into NS' existing network. Hugh Kiley, a former Conrail employee, has helped develop the operating plan to offer value to customers.

"We've been working with our internal partners - the Intermodal, Merchandise, and Coal departments - to design competitive train service," he says. "We want to make sure our plan for the integrated network is realistic and that it serves the needs of our customers."

"NS will be a winner in this transaction. ... I know NS will deliver results." Hugh Kiley, Transportation department

Plan development, however, is just the first step. After operations are under way on the larger NS system, Kiley will oversee monitoring and adjusting the plan.

"We're a performance-driven enterprise," he says of NS. "We'll measure performance to deliver the full benefits of the larger system to our customers and stockholders."

And Kiley has other responsibilities:

• Terminal operations - "The key to success is to keep our major yards running efficiently and to take full advantage of our capabilities and capacity. This adds value for our customers."
• Transportation planning - "If you don't measure performance, you don't know much about it. We use a type of 'scorecard' that tells us where we need to improve. Good plans plus good execution equal outstanding results."
• Crew management center - "We decide how to staff trains as a result of service design. We need to ensure that we have the people in place to execute the plan."

Hugh Kiley NS Assistant Vice President- Transportation Services, Transportation department, Atlanta, 29 years' railroad service

Kiley emphasizes the importance of teamwork. "This transaction is a journey, not a destination," he says. "It's a matter of getting the whole company in one boat and rowing in the same direction - sharing goals, sharing values, and sharing accountability."

Kiley is confident that the integration of Conrail and NS offers enormous opportunities to rethink the NS network, capitalize on an expanded territory, and improve traffic flows.

"As a result, we can tailor our network to serve our customers. We can offer a broader range of services to more people over a larger area than ever before."

Kiley has no second thoughts about his decision to join NS. "NS will be a winner in this transaction," he says. "I've bet my career on it. I know NS will deliver results."

Devising the train network

An overriding goal for Fred Ehlers and the 15 people working with him to integrate a portion of Conrail's routes into NS' Day One operating plan was to have everything seem familiar to employees and customers wherever possible.

"We didn't want to change the world on Day One," Ehlers says.

But Ehlers and his co-workers in NS' Transportation department also didn't want to delay taking advantage of some benefits of a rail network spanning the East Coast and linking the Northeast and the Southwest.

Fred Ehlers NS Director- Transportation Planning, Transportation department, Atlanta, 14 years' service

Ehlers' team was responsible for creating and coordinating some 1,200 train schedules; deciding which trains would connect with which others; and determining which trains would haul what freight.

"There have been a lot of i's to dot and t's to cross," Ehlers says.

Although all the nation's railroads operate essentially the same way, there are plenty of differences in how they function. Such differences between NS and Conrail have kept Ehlers and his team busy.

The enormity of the task was most apparent when Ehlers' team began to review Conrail's tables of "block definitions," which are detailed rules about groups of rail traffic carried on trains.

"Some of the rules applied to traffic NS was expecting to get, and others applied to traffic CSX would get," he continues. "It was a very complex task to integrate only NS' portion into our operating plan."

Ehlers says his work in 1998 has helped him better understand the opportunities for business growth on a larger NS system.

"The potential is out there," he says. "On the new NS network, I believe we can offer some really great service. It's a matter of working with our customers and with the Marketing department to bring it about.

"A lot rides on making this transaction happen," Ehlers continues. "We've done planning like NS never has done before."

Click to enlarge Classification tracks across the larger 21,600-mile NS system are expected to handle 2.2 million more carloads of freight annually. These tracks are in Roanoke, Va.

Focusing on quality service

As the first Conrail officer to join NS, John Samuels offers special insight into the Conrail transaction.

"Conrail started as a bankrupt, physically out-of-shape railroad," Samuels says. "But NS will be operating a rail system that's in excellent shape, with dedicated and professional employees who are business-oriented railroaders."

Samuels' job involves working with the Finance and Marketing departments, where he gathers information that helps determine the Operating division's role in marketing initiatives and financial plans.

"The Marketing department, in selling the railroad as a transportation mode, sells consistency of service," Samuels explains. "Our role is to assure that we can provide the service that meets customer expectations."

"I joined NS because it's the industry leader in safety, customer focus, and cost effectiveness." John Samuels, Operations Planning and Budget department

Since joining NS in early 1998, Samuels has been concentrating on plans to operate the larger NS system.

"We are looking ahead to understand what's necessary long-term for the new NS," he says. "Our goal is to provide a train network that accomplishes overall company goals.

"We look at the big picture," he continues. "We analyze what the larger NS is trying to accomplish and figure out how to translate corporate expectations into actions."

Samuels feels fortunate to have joined NS. "I had decided that if I joined another railroad, it would be NS," he says, "because it's the industry leader in safety, customer focus, and cost effectiveness.

John Samuels NS Vice President, Operations Planning and Budget department, Norfolk, Va., 21 years' railroad service

"My goal is to contribute," he continues. "I want to use my background and knowledge to make the new NS an even greater success as rapidly as possible."

According to Samuels, joining NS has been challenging. "Even though both companies are railroads, each one is different in geographical structure, rules, and regulations," he says.

Still, Samuels expects that NS and Conrail employees will work well together. "This cultural absorption will happen so rapidly," he says, "that it will border on being transparent."

NS and Conrail, he says, are a good fit. "The institutional knowledge at NS, coupled with Conrail employees' ability to turn around a bankrupt operation, creates a powerhouse with regard to the expertise to run a competitive railroad," he says.

"That's why the new NS is going to be a success."

Integrating field operations

Dave Dufner has more than 30 years' experience getting railcars where they need to be at the right time.

Before NS began planning for the Conrail transaction, Dufner's job was to oversee field support operations in one of NS' nine operating divisions.

Dave Dufner NS Manager-Central Yard Operations, Transportation department, Atlanta, 32 years' service

His depth and breadth of experience made him an obvious choice to lead the planning team responsible for integrating Conrail's field operations with those of NS.

"A lot of blood, sweat, and tears on both sides of the house have gone into this," says Dufner.

Dufner spent much of 1998 in Pittsburgh at Conrail's National Customer Service Center. He and NS co-workers have been developing plans to fold Conrail's field operations into NS' Centralized Yard Operations. They anticipate beginning actual implementation 30 days after Day One and finishing less than six months later.

"This is a major undertaking," says Dufner. "It's ambitious to try to complete it in six months, but that's our goal."

The plan calls for the integration to take place in 14 segments, beginning in the eastern portion of Conrail's territory and moving west.

The integration of Conrail's field operations into the NS system also involves additional training of some 200 employees in Conrail's Pittsburgh National Customer Service Center.

Dufner said he and others working with him understood from the beginning what needed to be done; the hard work was in figuring out how to make it happen.

"The first thing we did was develop a rapport with Conrail management, because we looked to them to help provide structure in the process," Dufner says. "We worked hand-in-hand all the way."

Dufner says NS has remained open to adapting Conrail methods wherever they offer advantages the comparable NS methods do not. "We want to take the best from both," he says, "and integrate them to make something even better."

Dufner is positive about the transaction.

"I believe in the old adage, 'failing to prepare is preparing to fail,'" says Dufner, "and NS has done a lot of preparing for this transaction.

"I'm a realist," he continues. "This transaction was a matter of survival for NS, and that reality gave me motivation.

"In order for NS to remain a leader, we had to pull together to plan for this process to happen smoothly."

Click to enlarge

Conrail Dispatcher Kevin Angle, right, shows Ed Steinbeck, a management trainee at NS, how Conrail tracks trains at its dispatching centers.