Rail Companies Reach Track-Sharing Pacts

Amtrak said it reached separate agreements with CSX Corp. and Norfolk Southern Corp. that will allow the passenger railroad and the two freight railroads to operate over one another’s tracks once the freight railroads complete finish dividing Conrail Inc. The agreements will allow Norfolk Southern and CSX to operate over the Washington-New York segment of Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor. The pacts also allow Amtrak to operate on CSX and Norfolk Southern lines outside the Northeast Corridor. Amtrak, which is still ironing out the details of a joint venture with Norfolk Southern for handling time-sensitive express freight, won permission to carry express freight over Norfolk Southern tracks on an interim basis. The U.S. Surface Transportation Board scheduled two days of hearings on the plan by Norfolk Southern and CSX to take over Conrail. More than nine hours of testimony will be heard by the board June 3-4. Norfolk Southern and CSX paid $10.2 billion to acquire Conrail last year, the largest rail acquisition in U.S. history. The companies intend to divide Conrail’s routes and facilities and to jointly operate services between Philadelphia and New York and around Detroit.