Norfolk Southern Corporation participated in the location of 78 new industries and provided support for the expansion of 43 additional industries along its rail lines in 2005.

The new plants and expansions represent an investment of approximately

$2 billion by Norfolk Southern customers and are expected to create an estimated 7,700 customer jobs in the railroad's territory and eventually generate more than 88,000 carloads of new rail traffic annually.

The largest project coming on line in 2005 was the $600 million expansion of an automobile assembly plant for Mercedes-Benz USI at Vance, AL.

'The strong economy continued to drive a variety of industrial projects across our service territory, with locations in 18 states,' said Larry Collingwood, assistant vice president industrial development. NS continued its success in attracting plastics-related locations with 17 new or expanded projects. Other industries locating on NS lines during 2005 included grain elevators, cement plants, lumber and paper facilities, chemical plants, steel and food processors, and distribution warehouses.

During the past 10 years, Norfolk Southern's industrial development department has participated in the location or expansion of 1,098 industries, which invested $24.5 billion and created nearly 63,000 customer jobs in the territory served by the railroad.

Norfolk Southern works with state and local economic development authorities on projects involving site location and development of infrastructure to connect customers to its rail system and provides free and confidential plant location services, including site layout, engineering and logistics assistance. Offices are located in Atlanta; Birmingham, AL; Columbia, SC; Columbus, Ohio; Detroit; Harrisburg, PA; Knoxville, TN; Indianapolis, IN; Norfolk; Philadelphia; Raleigh, NC; Roanoke, VA, and St. Louis.