(Norfolk Southern issued the following news release on July 28.)
NORFOLK, Va. — Norfolk Southern Corporation handled a record 45.7 million tons of coal in the second quarter of 2005. This was the company’s highest level of coal volume since the consolidation with Conrail in 1999 and was up 3.9 percent compared with last year. The second-quarter record exceeded the previous record, set in the first quarter of 2001, by 1.9 percent. NS also set a new record in the second quarter for total coal, coke and iron ore volume, which reached 47.3 million tons, an increase of 2.6 percent over the previous record, set in last year’s fourth quarter. For all coal, coke and iron ore, NS has set new volume records in two of the last three quarters.
The major contributing factor to the increase in volume was coal moving to utilities, which continued to rebuild stockpiles. Additional growth also came from coal shipments to a new coke plant and strong first-half domestic metallurgical coal markets.
Norfolk Southern Corporation is one of the nation’s premier transportation companies. Its Norfolk Southern Railway subsidiary operates 21,300 route miles in 22 states, the District of Columbia and Ontario, Canada, serving every major container port in the eastern United States and providing superior connections to western rail carriers. NS operates the most extensive intermodal network in the East and is North America’s largest rail carrier of automotive parts and finished vehicles.