All Aboard for Conrail

A railroad for sale? It may sound like a game of Monopoly, but the Department of Transportation last week was taking bids for the Consolidated Rail Corp. Created in 1976 from the Penn Central and five other bankrupt railroads, Conrail required a $7 billion federal transfusion through 1982. Under the stewardship of Chairman L. Stanley Crane, Conrail earned a profit in 1983 of $313 million. When DOT tried to peddle Conrail to 20 firms last spring, the only offer came from the company's employees, who already own 15% of the road. But last week 14 bidders stepped forward to offer to buy the giant carrier, which hauls freight over 14,200 miles of route in the U.S. and Canada.

The bids ranged from $7.6 billion from First Allied, a group of investors led by Malcolm I. Glazer, to $1 from Tippecanoe Warehousing, a storage and transportation firm that wants to use Conrail in a complex tax deal. Hotelier J.W. Marriott Jr. and Guilford Transportation Industries, owned by Timothy Mellon of the Pittsburgh Mellon family, also made proposals. Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Dole will select the winning bid, possibly later this summer, after discussions with Congress and Goldman, Sachs, DOT'S financial adviser.