Berks Benefiting From Boom

By Reading Eagle, Pa.

Apr. 7–Railroads that serve Berks and surrounding counties also are benefiting from the nationwide boom in freight railroading.

Rudy Husband, public relations director for Norfolk Southern Corp., which handles about 7,500 railcars annually out of its Reading yard, said all types of freight traffic are increasing.

The Norfolk, Va., carrier, a successor to Conrail and the former Reading Co. railroad, operates a 22-state network in the eastern half of the United States.

The company’s 2005 net income, about $1.3 billion, rose $358 million, or 39 percent, over 2004.

Husband said the carrier’s capital expenditures for 2006, including track, equipment and infrastructure improvements, would exceed $1 billion.

Daniel R. Gilchrist, marketing and sales vice president for the Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad Co. — informally, the Reading & Northern — said the regional carrier’s freight traffic has increased about 30 percent over the last few years.

Based in Port Clinton, Schuylkill County, the railroad serves a nine-county region in eastern Pennsylvania and delivers about 2,000 railcars a year to Berks customers.

Gilchrist said the carrier’s 2006 capital expenditures would exceed $2 million.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Reading Eagle, Pa.

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