NYRR mentioned in NSC's speech to Merrill Lynch yesterday:
Remarks by:
Henry C. Wolf
Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer
Norfolk Southern Corporation
Before the:
Merrill Lynch Global Transportation Conference
June 9, 1999
New York, New York
Good afternoon. It's a pleasure to join you today, and, on behalf of Norfolk Southern, I'd like to thank Mike Lloyd and the entire Merrill Lynch team for inviting us to participate in this conference.
I'm sure I don't have to remind anyone here that last week marked the beginning of a new era in transportation as Norfolk Southern began operations of its portion of Conrail in the Northeast. After two and a half years, over four million hours of preparation and more
than $6 billion, I can now say, "Welcome to the new Norfolk Southern."
By any measure, this is a time of many "firsts" for our industry. Rail competition has been restored to the Northeast for the first time in two decades. Shippers have access for the first time to rail equivalents to Northeast-Southeast highway traffic routes. And Norfolk
Southern now has a competitive presence in all major ports and markets east of the Mississippi River, linking customers to the world's economy.
In fact, for the first time, I can stand before you today and tell you that we are in our service region - a region east of the Hudson that the New York Harbor Rail/Barge helps us reach.
June 1st marked the culmination of the most intensive planning process for the most complex transaction in rail history. The consolidation of two companies in a merger is always complicated, but dividing one company between two competitors, and increasing both the size of the Norfolk Southern system and workforce by nearly 50 percent has been even more challenging. |
