Heartland Corridor

[NW Mailing List]

We seem to often confuse cost cutting and responsible financial management. Likewise we often confuse profit and increasing shareholder's wealth. And.......to even consider a comparison between  NS not spending money on the aesthetics of tunnel portals to the BP oil rig/well disaster in the Gulf sort of makes me wonder what planet we are on.

A project such as the tunnel work for the Heartland Corridor would go through several phases of study and analysis prior to a decision being made to proceed with the overall project.  I'd think a general plan would be developed for the overall tunnel work and that individual plans would be put together for each tunnel that required work. There would be specific requirements that must be met for all tunnels as to clearance requirements, stability for the roof, and so on.  Each tunnel would require an individual study and plan that involved geological and civil engineering.  Once work was in progress on an individual tunnel QC and engineering would evaluate what was found verses the original plan.  If changes were required they would need to meet engineering acceptance criteria for approval.  There would be final inspections to accept the completed work and I would also assume there would be periodic follow-up inspections required to assure the continued stability of the tunnel and address required corrective action should as found conditions warrant modification or repair.

There could actually be engineering and safety factors aside from financial savings that left the tunnels portals looking as they do??

NS is a well managed corporation.  Safety would be foremost in their thoughts.  Secondly if the work were not performed in a properly engineered and quality manner it would negatively impact NS operations.  This would interrupt railway operations, cost money, and not please customers which could and likely would lead to loss of business and income.

Expenditures before approved are reviewed as to actual cost/value benefit to NS per an operations/business plan.  Expenditures that don't meet the needed criteria would not be approved.  NS like other well managed corporations is not about short term profits from cost cutting but rather about good financial management that maintains a quality physical plant, locomotives and rolling stock with high availability and the needed numbers to support customers and rail operations.  Success in these areas results in long term profit and increases to shareholder wealth. Cost savings (not cost cutting) can be realized through good organization, detailed planning and scheduling, and crisp execution of projects and operations.

Norfolk Southern is the best managed and operated railroad in America.  I'm glad to be a shareholder.

Ed Painter
Resident Site Manager/Arkansas Nuclear One
Nuclear Services

Westinghouse Electric Company
Arkansas Nuclear One
1448 SR 333
Russellville, AR 72802 - USA
Office Phone:  +1 (479) 858-4617
Cell Phone: +1 (479) 970-2080
Fax:  +1 (479) 858-7982
Email:  painteea at westinghouse.com
Home Page:  www.westinghousenuclear.com

From: nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org [mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of NW Mailing List
Sent: Thursday, August 19, 2010 10:30 AM
To: NW Mailing List
Subject: Re: Heartland Corridor

So you're ticked that the tunnel portals got notched?  Big deal.  Norfolk Southern is a business not a museum.  NS is doing some steam excursions for PR and marketing which is a reasonable use of money.  Installing new portals versus notching the old ones for purely aesthetic reasons is a WASTE OF MONEY!  Be realistic.  Having pretty tunnel portals doesn't help PR or marketing like my earlier example or do anything else that has any value.

John Rhodes (not an employee of NS)
On Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 10:11 AM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org<mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>> wrote:
I don't need numbers to support my position, or defend it.  You don't have to agree although I think many of you do.
First of all, I don't trust anybody that sees only green dollars.  Secondly, is there anybody out there who thinks that a third-grader with a hammer and chisel wouldn't have done a neater, cleaner, more professional job of opening up the tunnels?  I am not talking about the hardworking people who actually did the work asked of them.  They were top notch.  I am talking about the directors of the projects who abandoned their pride in the railroad to save a few dollars.  It was a hatchet job.  Vandalism.  Desecration.
I love Norfolk Southern, N&W and the Virginian-that is why I feel the way I do.  Do they send out stock certificates with ragged edges?  Do any of the executives live in run-down homes?  If any of them commissioned work on their homes and it turned out like the tunnel portals, would they revel in how much money they saved?

Dave, you asked what a semi-bottom line is.  It is my way of saying that it answers the question "What is the cost now?" and doesn't take into account, "what is the long term cost?"  There may be no way of knowing long term cost, but it should be considered by smart people.  They knew the cost of not opening the tunnels, after all.

Michael Shockley


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