FOR RELEASE
Contact: Dennis Watson
05/13/98 (Wednesday)
(202) 565-1596
No. 98-32
FIRS 1 (800) 877-8339
www.stb.gov


SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD ISSUES SCHEDULE OF SPEAKERS, TIME ALLOCATIONS FOR JUNE 3 AND 4 ORAL ARGUMENT IN CSX-NS-CONRAIL MERGER PROCEEDING


Surface Transportation Board (Board) Chairman Linda J. Morgan announced today that, in the CSX-NS-Conrail merger proceeding, the Board has issued a decision establishing a 2-day oral argument schedule (see Appendix attached) specifying the order of appearance and time allotted to each participant. The schedule provides for a total of 9 hours of oral argument to be divided among approximately 70 parties, of which 2 hours and 30 minutes are being allocated to primary applicants, and 6 hours and 30 minutes are being allocated to other parties under the following categories: Federal Government Parties, Broad Shipper Interests, Specific Shipper Interests, Coal, Passenger and Commuter Interests, Other Railroads, New York/New Jersey, Chicago, Indianapolis, Ohio, Other State Governments, Environmental and Safety Issues, and Labor. Chairman Morgan noted that a number of United States Senators and Congressmen have requested to be included in the schedule to speak at the oral argument, and that time will be allocated at the beginning of each day or otherwise as needed to accommodate Members of Congress.


The oral argument will be held on June 3 and 4, 1998, beginning at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time on each day in the Board’s Hearing Room at its offices in the Mercury Building, 1925 K Street, N.W., in Washington. As seating in the Board’s 7th Floor Hearing Room is limited, a second room, the Brick Room on the 1st Floor of the Mercury Building, will be open and linked to the Hearing Room by television monitor. Seating for members of the public in the Hearing Room and the Brick Room will be provided on a "first-come, first-admitted" basis.



Participants planning to use visual aids, such as maps, are advised to inform the Office of the Secretary at (202) 565-1674, no later than close of business Tuesday, May 26, 1998. Participants are limited to projector-adaptable visual displays or handouts. The Board will provide space for handouts participants wish to bring to the oral argument for dissemination to the public. The Board staff will be available in the Board’s Hearing Room--Suite 760, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Monday, June 1, 1998, to demonstrate the Board’s projection system. Please call (202) 565-1674 to make arrangements.



For further information, see Decision No. 80, served May 13, 1998 (Decision ID 29186) in STB Finance Docket No. 33388, CSX CORPORATION AND CSX TRANSPORTATION, INC., NORFOLK SOUTHERN CORPORATION AND NORFOLK SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY--CONTROL AND OPERATING LEASES/AGREEMENTS--CONRAIL INC. AND CONSOLIDATED RAIL CORPORATION. The decision is available on the Board’s website at “WWW.STB.DOT.GOV.”



[STOP]


APPENDIX

Time will be allocated to Members of Congress at the beginning of each day or otherwise as needed. Members of Congress will have the option of appearing on either Wednesday, June 3, 1998, or Thursday, June 4, 1998.

MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
New York:
Senator Alfonse M. D’Amato
Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Congressman Jerrold Nadler
Congressman Jack Quinn
Congressman John J. LaFalce
Ohio:
Congressman Sherrod Brown
Congressman Dennis Kucinich
Congressman Ralph Regula
Pennsylvania:
Senator Arlen Specter
Congressman Ron Klink
Rhode Island:
Senator Jack Reed

SCHEDULE OF APPEARANCES

Wednesday, June 3, 1998:

MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
ALLOTTED
PRIMARY APPLICANTS

CSX Corporation, CSX Transportation, Inc., 60 minutes
Norfolk Southern Corporation, Norfolk Southern (Primary Applicants
Railway Company, Conrail Inc. and Consolidated will have a total of
Rail Corporation of 150 minutes, but will reserve 90 minutes for rebuttal) FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PARTIES
U.S. Department of Justice 10 minutes
U.S. Department of Transportation 15 minutes

BROAD SHIPPER INTERESTS
The National Industrial Transportation League 5 minutes
The Fertilizer Institute 5 minutes
Chemical Manufacturers Association 5 minutes
Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. 5 minutes
SPECIFIC SHIPPER INTERESTS
AK Steel Corporation 5 minutes
APL Limited 5 minutes
ARCO Chemical Company 5 minutes
ASHTA Chemicals Inc. 5 minutes
Eastman Kodak Company 5 minutes
Joseph Smith & Sons, Inc. 5 minutes
Millennium Petrochemicals Inc. 4 minutes
Citizens Gas & Coke Utility 3 minutes
COAL
Centerior Energy Corporation [First Energy Corp.] 5 minutes
Consumers Energy Company 5 minutes
Eighty-Four Mining Company 5 minutes
Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation 5 minutes
Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc. 5 minutes
Potomac Electric Power Company 5 minutes
American Electric Power Service Corporation 3 minutes
Total 33 minutes

PASSENGER AND COMMUTER INTERESTS
AMTRAK (National Railroad Passenger Corporation) 10 minutes
American Public Transit Association 5 minutes
Metro-North Commuter Railroad 5 minutes
Northern Virginia Transportation Commission & Potomac
and Rappahannock Transportation Commission (VRE) 5 minutes
Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority 5 minutes
OTHER RAILROADS
Illinois Central Railroad Company 7 minutes
Ann Arbor Railroad 5 minutes
New England Central Railroad, Inc. 5 minutes
Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad Company 5 minutes
Housatonic Railroad Company 5 minutes
Livonia, Avon & Lakeville Railroad Corporation 5 minutes
Philadelphia Belt Line Railroad Company 5 minutes
Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad Company 5 minutes
New York & Atlantic Railway 5 minutes
Gateway Western Railway Company 3 minutes
NEW YORK/NEW JERSEY
State of New York 10 minutes
New York City Economic Development Corporation 5 minutes
Erie-Niagara Rail Steering Committee 5 minutes
Genesee Transportation Council 4 minutes
Southern Tier West Regional Planning and Development Board 2 minutes
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey 5 minutes
CHICAGO
Wisconsin Central, Ltd. 5 minutes
Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway Company, Transtar, Inc.,
and I&M Rail Link 5 minutes
Illinois International Port District 5 minutes


Thursday, June 4, 1998:

MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
ALLOTTED

INDIANAPOLIS
City of Indianapolis, Indiana 5 minutes
Indiana Southern Railroad 5 minutes
Indianapolis Power & Light Company 5 minutes
OHIO
The Attorney General, State of Ohio, The Ohio Rail
Development Commission, and The Public Utilities
Commission of Ohio 10 minutes
Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway Company 5 minutes
Wyandot Dolomite, Inc. 4 minutes
Stark Development Board 4 minutes
Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. 4 minutes
National Lime & Stone Company 4 minutes
OTHER STATE GOVERNMENTS
Delaware Department of Transportation 5 minutes
State of Vermont 5 minutes
ENVIRONMENTAL AND SAFETY ISSUES
Four City Consortium--(The Cities of East Chicago, IN;
Hammond, IN; Gary, IN; and Whiting, IN 10 minutes
City of Cleveland, Ohio 10 minutes
The Cities of Bay Village, Rocky River and Lakewood, Ohio 5 minutes
Wellington, Ohio Village Council 4 minutes
Tri-State Transportation Campaign 3 minutes
American Trucking Associations 3 minutes
LABOR
Allied Rail Unions, Transportation Communications
International Union, International Association of Machinists
and Aerospace Workers, and United Railway Supervisors Assn. 25 minutes
United Transportation Union 15 minutes
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers--Consolidated Rail
Corporation--General Committee of Adjustment 5 minutes
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, Division 227 5 minutes
New York State Legislative Board, United Transportation Union
Union 5 minutes
Retirees--Former Employees of Conrail 3 minutes
PRIMARY APPLICANTS 90 minutes (rebuttal)