Information of interest to operating railroad and transportation employees

For

WASHINGTON – The way has been cleared for the creation of a new Penn Station, it was announced this week. The Postal Service agreed on Wednesday to convert the old Farley Post Office on Manhattan’s West Side into a new Pennsylvania Station.

It was not immediately clear how much of the huge postal building, which stretches between Eight and Ninth Avenues, will be given up to the Penn Station project. But Sen. Patrick Moynihan (D-NY), who has pushed this project for six years, said it would be a significant amount. Much of the mail sorting and other operations done in the building will be relocated elsewhere in the city.

The cost of the new Penn Station is budgeted at $315 million, and construction and renovations will begin shortly.

The centerpiece of the new Penn Station, which will house Amtrak and other rail connections, will be the huge central court under a skylight. It is now a workspace for letter carriers.

Moynihan said the concourse will be up and running in five years. The original Penn Station was built in 1910 and demolished in 1963 to make room for a sleek office tower and Madison Square Garden.

Norfolk Southern reached Ohio agreements

NORFOLK, Va. – Norfolk Southern Corp. announced that it has reached agreements responding to the operational concerns of the Toledo (Ohio) Metropolitan Area Council of Government, the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority, and the Indiana and Ohio Railway Company.

These entities now join 2,700 others in support of the acquisition of Conrail.

NS has agreed to help aggressively market Toledo’s two major dock facilities, the Lakefront dock and the Presque Isle Dock. Both docks will retain access to NS and CSX systems to remain competitive. Also in Toledo, NS has agreed to leave its Pivot Bridge over the Maumee River in place for four years, and will offer it for sale at a nominal cost for public use should the NS choose to abandon it.

NS has also agreed to donate for public use its real estate interest in the 7.5-mile "Toledo Black Belt" between the city and Maumee, which is being abandoned as part of the Conrail Transaction.

CSX announces key operational appointments

JACKSONVILLE – CSX Transportation announced several key operational appointments.

Clarence W. Gooden has been named vice president-transportation field operations; Gerald T. Gates is the new vice president-transportation Conrail field operations; Gary M. Spiegel is vice president-network operations; James W. Fallon Jr. is assistant vice president-network operations, and Robert A. Bernard and Wayne A. Richards have been named general managers-service lane integration.

Gooden will report to Executive Vice President Carl N. Taylor and will be responsible for directing the activities of CSXT’s eight existing service lanes, which formerly reported directly to Taylor. Service lanes represent more than 80% of CSXT’s operating network.

Gates will report to Taylor and be responsible for five new service lanes that CSXT plans to create as part of the Conrail transaction.