Conrail

Twenty-four plaintiffs, including a dozen police officers who rushed to the scene of a November train derailment in Paulsboro, sued on Monday, alleging that the rail company's negligence caused the derailment, and that it downplayed the dangers of a chemical spill and failed to protect responders. As a result, the suit says, the plaintiffs have suffered ailments such as breathing problems, headaches, neurological disorders, and elevated blood pressure since the tanker carrying 23,000 gallons of vinyl chloride derailed Nov. 30. Investigators have determined that the freight train crossed the automated drawbridge over Mantua Creek against a red light after the crew got the go-ahead from a dispatcher.

Officials at Conrail yesterday took sharp exception to a federal report highly critical of the railroad's safety operations. The 800-page report by the Federal Railroad Administration, the government's top rail-safety enforcement agency, charged that there were widespread shortcomings in Conrail's safety operations. The problems are not serious enough to shut the railroad down, FRA Administrator John Riley said at a news conference. "By the same token, however, we have levied more than 1,700 violations on the railroad," Riley said.

L. Stanley Crane, chairman and chief executive officer of Conrail, has given a persuasive update on reasons why Congress should keep the railroad independent and not sell it to Norfolk Southern Corp. Testifying in Washington Wednesday before the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on transportation, he presented the basic arithmetic to dramatize that the proposed sale actually would be a giveaway. Conrail has $939 million in cash and $360 million in overfunded pension assets for a total of about $1.3 billion.

Conrail's stock fell more than 9 percent on Wall Street yesterday, as traders responded to the company's report of a $28 million first-quarter net loss and to ratings downgrades by two analysts. Shares of the Philadelphia-based Conrail fell 5 3/8, or 9.4 percent, to 51 3/4, on the New York Stock Exchange. It was the NYSE's sixth-largest drop, in percentage terms. Volume was active at 2.2 million shares. There also was a trading delay on the stock. On Wednesday, Conrail reported a net loss of $28 million, or 39 cents a share after charges, vs. a profit of $38 million, or 42 cents a share, in the year-ago period.

Norfolk Southern Corp. said yesterday it "will consider" a Transportation Department request to raise its offer for Conrail by $700 million, to $1.9 billion, company chairman Robert B. Claytor said in a terse statement. Neither Claytor nor other executives of Norfolk Southern, which has fought an almost two-year struggle to acquire Conrail, indicated when a decision would be made. In a letter sent Tuesday to Rep. John D. Dingell (D., Mich.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Hanford Dole suggested that Norfolk Southern should increase its bid. Dingell said last week - and reiterated Tuesday - that he considers Dole's plan to sell Conrail to Norfolk Southern fatally flawed, primarily because of its anti-competitive consequences.

In testifying at numerous congressional hearings, Norfolk Southern Corp. executives issued frequent reminders that their offer to buy Conrail might expire at the end of last year. They apparently hoped the warning would pressure Congress to approve the sale without carefully considering other options. They even hinted that, if the offer were extended beyond Dec. 31, the price might be reduced - a clumsy attempt to persuade Congress that Conrail could have a bad year in 1985 and its value might decline.

If you want to know what being in limbo is like, ask the Conrail employees. Although we don't want Norfolk Southern to buy us, it's hell not knowing what's going to happen to us. Between President Reagan and Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Dole, they want to get rid of Conrail, which is a money-making enterprise. Do they take a high bid? No, the lowest. Do they concern themselves with antitrust laws? No, they try to change them to suit themselves. Do they care about the employees who will lose their jobs?

Take that, Conrail. Boom! Bang! Biff! In a speech in Philadelphia yesterday, Robert J. Ritchie, president of CP Rail System, attacked Conrail and suggested that a new law might be needed to force Conrail to act like a good corporate citizen. Ritchie was the closing speaker for a two-day seminar on rail freight issues sponsored by the Delaware River Regional Planning Commission. He pointed out that CP Rail, parent of Canadian Pacific Railroad, bought the local Delaware & Hudson Railroad last year.

Conrail will not confirm reports that either Pittsburgh or Indianapolis will be selected as the site of a new national customer service center. Reports to that effect have come from the Pennsylvania Department of Commerce and from an Indianapolis city official, according to the Associated Press. The center will consolidate the 10 existing centers, one of which is in Philadelphia, that now handle customer orders for freight cars. Conrail spokesman David Neurohr said that the decision on where the center will be located will be made later this year and Conrail will make no statement about locations being considered.

Twenty-four plaintiffs, including a dozen police officers who rushed to the scene of a November train derailment in Paulsboro, sued on Monday, alleging that the rail company's negligence caused the derailment, and that it downplayed the dangers of a chemical spill and failed to protect responders. As a result, the suit says, the plaintiffs have suffered ailments such as breathing problems, headaches, neurological disorders, and elevated blood pressure since the tanker carrying 23,000 gallons of vinyl chloride derailed Nov. 30. Investigators have determined that the freight train crossed the automated drawbridge over Mantua Creek against a red light after the crew got the go-ahead from a dispatcher.

Having grown up on the banks of the Mantua Creek in Paulsboro, Walter Stevenson, 77, is accustomed to the ever-present, faintly acrid smell from a nearby refinery, and the occasional rumbling and squealing of trains as they move across the Conrail bridge just beyond his yard. Which is why at first he didn't pay much attention to the clatter Nov. 30, the morning a tanker train derailed, dumping cars into the creek where he often swam as a boy. "You get so used to it," he said.

Having grown up on the banks of the Mantua Creek in Paulsboro, Walter Stevenson, 77, is accustomed to the ever-present, faintly acrid smell from a nearby refinery, and the occasional rumbling and squealing of trains as they move across the Conrail bridge just beyond his yard. Which is why at first he didn't pay much attention to the clatter Nov. 30, the morning a tanker train derailed, dumping cars into the creek where he often swam as a boy. "You get so used to it," he said.

More than three months after a freight-train derailment over the Mantua Creek spewed toxic vinyl chloride into the atmosphere, a Paulsboro citizens group submitted a petition to the Borough Council on Tuesday evening asking it to consider installing at least four air-quality monitors around town, to be paid for by Conrail and local industry. "We want to have some sort of alarm that we'll know our air has been compromised," said Davetta Howard, 59, a member of the Paulsboro Action Committee, which submitted the petition.

Lawsuits accusing Conrail and its parent companies, CSX Corp. and Norfolk Southern Corp., of negligence in the November train derailment and chemical spill in Paulsboro continue to mount, and lawyers say more than 20 percent of the town has spoken to counsel. The latest suit, on behalf of 13 residents, seeks punitive damages and medical monitoring for possible future health problems. It was filed in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia, where Conrail is based. At least 1,300 people, most from Paulsboro but some from surrounding towns such as Gibbstown, have consulted lawyers about joining the suits, according to the lawyers.

Lawsuits accusing Conrail and its parent companies, CSX Corp. and Norfolk Southern Corp., of negligence in the November train derailment and chemical spill in Paulsboro continue to mount, and lawyers say more than 20 percent of the town has spoken to counsel. The latest suit, on behalf of 13 residents, seeks punitive damages and medical monitoring for possible future health problems. It was filed in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia, where Conrail is based. At least 1,300 people, most from Paulsboro but some from surrounding towns such as Gibbstown, have consulted lawyers about joining the suits, according to the lawyers.

Conrail opened a second claims center Sunday to offer cash settlements to Paulsboro residents affected by the November train derailment that leaked thousands of gallons of toxic vinyl chloride into the atmosphere. The move comes after a week of busy activity at the first site, where Conrail began offering settlements Jan. 10, spokesman Michael Hotra said. The second center, at the Paulsboro Volunteer Fire House on Swedesboro Avenue, is exclusively for residents who were told to stay in their homes and not evacuate who are not filing medical claims.

Conrail is offering cash settlements to Paulsboro residents and businesses affected by November's leak of toxic vinyl chloride from a ruptured tanker car - if they agree not to sue the company for health problems they might discover later. The offer drew curious residents to the company's claims office, but some are now panning it as an effort to take advantage of a needy community. A lawyer for residents who already have filed suit said settlements might end up on shaky legal ground because the company was not providing legal assistance to residents in weighing the terms.