Railroad Retirement reform
became law Jan. 1, 2002

Efforts by a coalition of labor and management to modernize Railroad Retirement were rewarded in December when President Bush signed the historic reform measure into law.

The Senate approved the legislation by a vote of 90-9 on Dec. 5. According to congressional procedures, the bill was returned to the House because the Senate passed the legislation under a different bill number from that originally passed by the House last July. The House passed the bill 369-33 on Dec. 11. The legislation was signed by President Bush on Dec. 21 and became law Jan. 1, 2002.

"Modernization of the Railroad Retirement system promises benefits for the rail industry, Norfolk Southern, our people, family members and retirees," said David R. Goode, chairman, president and chief executive officer. "That's why reform enjoyed such broad support.

"However, translating that support to favorable votes in Congress didn't happen without a lot of hard work," Goode said. "It took the sustained efforts of both rail labor and rail management, whose combined efforts showed the power of what we can accomplish by working together."

The legislation provides a more secure retirement for rail workers, retirees and their spouses. Key provisions include improvements to surviving spouse benefits, full retirement annuity at age 60 with 30 years of service, elimination of artificial caps on benefits, vesting after five years instead of 10 and requiring carriers to insure future fund solvency with tax increases if necessary. Associated with the bill, but not part of it, is a provision to allow some private investment of Railroad Retirement funds.

"The efforts of many people working together to modernize the Railroad Retirement system made passage of these bills possible," said Jim Hixon, senior vice president administration. "Thanks especially go to everyone who contacted their senators and members of Congress to urge their support.

"We are extremely pleased that so many senators and representatives saw the wisdom of reforming our retirement system, and that the president agreed and moved to enact the legislation quickly," Hixon said. "Now, railroad employees and their families can be assured of a stronger Railroad Retirement system, and a more secure future."

Planned 2002 capital spending announced

Norfolk Southern plans to spend $705 million for capital improvements in 2002.

"We have completed many of our major investments in line capacity, rail terminals and information systems in 2001, which has enabled us to increase the resources devoted to maintaining our rail infrastructure," said David R. Goode, chairman, president and chief executive officer. "We are continuing our solid commitment to safety and service during challenging economic times with spending levels designed to keep our system strong and our service steadily improving."

The anticipated spending includes $482 million for roadway projects and $173 million for equipment.

In roadway improvements, the largest expenditure will be $366 million for rail, crosstie, ballast and bridge programs. In addition, $31 million is provided for communications, signal and electrical projects and $17 million for environmental projects and public improvements such as grade crossing separations and crossing signal upgrades.

Other roadway projects include $43 million for marketing and industrial development initiatives, including increasing track capacity and access to coal receivers and vehicle production and distribution facilities, and continuing investments in intermodal infrastructure.

Equipment spending includes $102 million to purchase 50 six-axle locomotives and upgrade existing locomotives. Equipment spending also includes $57 million for projects related to computers and information technology, including allocations for additional security and backup systems. "Our equipment spending, which is lower than in previous years, reflects improved fleet management and asset utilization," Goode said.

Railroads challenge harmful
W.Va. court practice

Three eastern railroads filed suit to stop West Virginia's "mass litigation" process, which unfairly benefits out-of-state plaintiffs and their attorneys at the expense of the state's citizens and businesses.

Norfolk Southern Railway, CSX Transportation and Conrail, joined by American Premier Underwriters (formerly Penn Central), filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia against the justices of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia. The railroads seek to invalidate West Virginia Trial Court Rule (TCR) 26.01, which in 1999 established a "Mass Litigation Panel and Procedure" to consolidate asbestos-related civil cases against railroads and other parties.

The railroads said TCR 26.01 deprives them of due process of law provided for in the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, because in lumping together plaintiffs who worked at numerous different locations, in various jobs, during different times, with diverse mitigating factors and alleged exposures and injuries, the process will deprive the defendants of a fair trial.

Consolidation of cases, in effect, pressures railroads into settling them, rather than proceeding to trial and risking enormous verdicts skewed toward the most seriously injured plaintiffs while less injured (and even uninjured) plaintiffs obtain windfall verdicts. Further, West Virginia effectively provides no right to appeal such verdicts; the only appeals court in the state generally refuses to consider a railroad's appeal of a verdict, the railroads said.

Of the 33,100 civil lawsuits of all types pending in West Virginia courts, more than 25,000 or 75 percent are asbestos-related. Of the 9,000 asbestos cases pending nationwide against the three railroads, 5,150 or 57 percent are before West Virginia courts. In those 5,150 cases, 4,440 plaintiffs are people who do not work, live or pay taxes in West Virginia. More than 4,800 of the plaintiffs in these cases are represented by a single Pennsylvania law firm.

Duty.Honor.Country: Car inspector serves nation in Operation Enduring Freedom

Roger Gregg was working as a freight car inspector at Sevier Yard in Knoxville, Tenn., when he received a call that his services as a U.S. Navy Reserve criminal investigator were needed. Gregg was called to duty in January 2001 to join the investigation into the attack on the U.S.S. Cole in October 2000.

When terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and Pentagon on Sept. 11, Gregg's duty was extended, and he now serves under Operation Enduring Freedom.

Gregg joined Southern Railway in 1976. He previously had served in the U.S. Navy and re-upped in 1984 after a 12-year break. Today, he serves as a chief petty officer stationed in Washington, D.C. He is division officer of the Antiterrorism Alert Center, an administrative officer and a relief senior enlisted advisor.

"When I reported for duty in January 2001, I had more than a million information security clearances due," he said. "Things didn't get much better when September rolled around."

Gregg works in the Washington Navy Yard, which is eight blocks from the Capitol and right across the river from the Pentagon. He was near the turmoil on Sept. 11.

"I could see the Pentagon burning from my office window," he said.

Gregg's extended duty ends in March 2002, when he expects to resume his railroad career.

NS, Heart of Georgia Railroad team up
to help pave way to success

When the Douglas Asphalt Company was awarded a contract to construct a 24-mile stretch of Interstate 75 between Cordele and Tifton, Ga., it required a convenient, competitively priced way to transport aggregates to a hot-mix site near the construction area. The company preferred to receive the materials by rail, but the proposed site was not rail-served.

The project called for at least 400,000 tons of clean granite to move from Martin Marietta's quarry in Ruby, Ga., to Cordele.

"We wanted to secure this business with a truck-competitive price," said Norfolk Southern National Account Manager Steve Marshall.

NS and HOG teamed up to provide a rail-served site for Douglas Asphalt Company's hot-mix site.

"We had a site that would have been convenient for Douglas, but it required construction of a siding and installation of a switch on our main line. That affected our ability to quote a truck-competitive rate," said Paul Heymann, NS product manager, construction.

"We continued to work with Douglas Asphalt, because this business is important to NS," said Jason Reiner, NS manager industrial development. "The asphalt company was leaning toward truck as its means of transportation, when the Heart of Georgia Railroad (HOG), an NS short line railroad partner, suggested an alternative."

HOG showed Douglas representatives a few sites that would serve the needs of the asphalt company. HOG had a site that would accommodate the plant and provide storage for aggregate stockpiles, but it needed some improvements. The existing 1,300-foot siding had to be extended to1,600 feet, and there was some concern about using two rail carriers for the 60-mile move.

NS and HOG were able to provide assurance of consistent service and truck-competitive pricing. Douglas and HOG partnered to make the improvements. However, a few more challenges still faced the project.

Leasing and zoning issues had to be settled before construction of the plant could begin. Working with local and state agencies, the issues were settled, and Douglas began operations in August 2001.

"At times, we believed we were the least likely candidate to get this business," said Brad Lafevres, HOG's president and chief executive officer. "Working together, we were able to put this business on the rail, not on the highway, and we all have a satisfied customer."

For its efforts, Heart of Georgia, based in Americus, Ga., won the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association's 2001 Marketing Award in the "Small Railroad Factor" category.

2002 Calendar Contest winners announced

With photos of trains in bucolic fields, on trestles and amid blazing fall foliage, Norfolk Southern announced 15 winners in its 2002 wall calendar contest. Winning entrants receive $300 and 50 calendars.

The cover photo, by John Stanovich, locomotive engineer in Chicago, captures a Thoroughbred train at twilight, ready to go into a yard.

December 2001, by Chris Zeman, locomotive engineer in Bellevue, Ohio, shows a train for Triple Crown Services moving through a rock pass near Conway, Pa.

Eric Augatis, conductor in Whitehall, Pa., won the January spot with a fast-moving train on the snow-covered Reading Line near Allentown, Pa.

Rick Parsons, product manager-Ford automotive group, Merchandise Marketing, Detroit, photographed February's shot of a unit coal train moving across a trestle in Ripley, N.Y.

Grain silos are the backdrop for March's photo of an NS train passing through Seven Mile, Ohio, taken by Dean Delker, yardmaster, Cincinnati.

Dogwoods are in bloom in Locust Grove, Ga., for April's Thoroughbred train photo by Jean Kohler, Accounting clerk in Atlanta.

Dairy cows mimic the colors of an NS train moving through a field near Alburtis, Pa. The May photo was taken by Bob Bahrs, conductor in Dover, N.J.

June features a Thoroughbred locomotive amid lush green trees crossing Cooper River Bridge near Bramwell, W.Va., taken by Chris Dalton, train dispatcher in Bluefield, W.Va.

On a clear July day, Steven Rathke, locomotive engineer in Toledo, Ohio, caught an NS train crossing the trestle over Sandusky Bay in Bay View, Ohio, as two fishermen concentrated on their lines.

For his fourth straight calendar win and the August spot, Casey Thomason, locomotive engineer in Columbus, Ga., photographed a coal train winding through the valley in Waynesburg, Pa.

September found Baltimore, Md., locomotive engineer G.T. "Snake" Atkinson in Thompsontown, Pa., shooting fall foliage and a Thoroughbred mixed freight train.

Ed Brouse, yardmaster, Lewisburg, Pa., photographed an autumn mountain scene for October as an NS train passed through Shintown, Pa.

A double-stack train featuring red K-Line containers in Mt. Union, Pa., was the subject for November's photo by Jim Haag, locomotive engineer in Harrisburg, Pa.

Looking like a holiday card, December's photo by Gary Artrip, signal maintainer in South Point, Ohio, shows an NS coal train in a snow-covered forest.

The ethereal back cover photo by Rick Dietz, engineer Track Design in Canton, Ohio, features an NS train crossing the French Broad River in Marshall, N.C.

"As usual, the judges had a tough time making their selections," said Rhonda Broom, manager advertising and promotions. "The entries were above average this year, so it was difficult to eliminate some very good photos. It came down to how many we could use during each season."

Calendars can be purchased for $9.95 (including tax, postage and handling) using a credit card by calling toll-free 1-800-264-4394 between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. EST, or by sending a check or money order for that amount to:

Norfolk Southern Calendar
c/o Nyberg-Fletcher
2915 Whittington Ave.
Baltimore, MD. 21230.

Triple Crown Services Co. recognized as best

Logistics Management & Distribution Report named NS' affiliate, Triple Crown Services Company, the number one intermodal service provider.

More than 3,000 readers responded to this year's "18th Annual Quest for Quality" survey. Candidates for this logistics award were evaluated based upon on-time performance, value, information technology, customer service, equipment and operations.

"We are honored to receive this prestigious award," said Triple Crown President Jim Newton. "It provides objective recognition of the efforts of the entire Triple Crown team toward attaining our goal of being our customers' top carrier."

NS employees eligible for
vehicle, computer discounts

Ford, GM, Isuzu, Nissan and Subaru are offering vehicle purchase and lease discounts to Norfolk Southern employees. Some exceptions apply, and dealer participation is voluntary.

For more information, contact the manufacturers as follows:

Ford: Ford Supplier Partner Recognition vehicle purchase program (Ford, Land Rover, Lincoln, Mazda, Mercury and Volvo) - Employees, retirees and spouses are eligible.
www.ford.com,
For application: www.fordpartner.com, partner code B9ZYK or call 877-XPLAN-00

GM: GM Supplier Discount (GM, GMC and Saab) - Employees only
www.GM.com,
For application:
www.GMsupplierdiscount.com or call 800-960-3375

Isuzu: VIP Purchase and Lease Program (new only) - Employees only
www.isuzu.com,
E-mail vip@americanisuzu.com or call 800-995-7372

Nissan/Infiniti: Vehicle Purchase Program (new only) - Employees only
www.insidenissan.com or call 800-299-4753

Subaru: VIP Program - Employees only
www.subaru.com or call 800-VIP-0933

IBM discounts:
IBM is offering discounts to Norfolk Southern employees on a number of computer products. Check what's available by calling toll- free 1-800-426-7235, ext. 5480, or logging on to www.ibm.com/shop/ibmdeals/5480.

PLC history available

To purchase a copy of "A Century of Stewardship," C. Stuart McGehee's history of Pocahontas Land Corporation, contact Eva McGuire at the Eastern Regional Coal Archives. Books are $18 per copy, and PLC is donating all proceeds to the archives.

Contact Ms. McGuire at mcguiree@raleigh.lib.wv.us.