For Immediate Release

Public Relations Division
Public Affairs Department
1170 Eighth Avenue
Bethlehem, PA 18016-7699
(610) 694-3711 - Phone
(610) 694-1509 - Fax

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 29, 1998 -- Bethlehem Steel Corporation's Patapsco & Back Rivers Railroad (P&BR) was recognized late last week by the E.H. Harriman Memorial Awards Institute for the railroad's exceptional safety performance in serving the corporation's Sparrows Point, Md., Division.

The P&BR, one of seven subsidiary railroads owned by Bethlehem Steel Corporation, received the Institute's bronze medal designating its performance in 1997 as the third safest short-line railroad in the country. Each year the Institute presents awards for safety based on an absence of accidents and a low incidence of injuries.

The railroad won in the switching and terminal group for its service to more than a dozen industrial customers located on its lines and at the Port of Sparrows Point . The railroad transports commodities such as finished iron and steel articles, coal, coke, oil, scrap, slag, pig iron, plastic and chemicals. It owns more than 130 railroad cars used in interchange service. In addition, the P&BR interchanges with Conrail and CSX Transportation, and prepares trains for Conrail for furtherance via the Bay View Yard in Baltimore.

"Winning the Harriman Award is a product of our absolute and unified commitment to the safety process. Safety is a core value. The cooperation, sincerity and input exhibited by all of our employees have proven to be the primary factor in keeping each of us safe throughout the workday," said Michael J. King, superintendent of the P&BR, who received the Harriman Award with J. Michael Zaia, president of Bethlehem Steel's subsidiary railroads.

The Harriman Awards were established in 1913 by Mary Harriman in memory of her husband, Edward Henry Harriman, a railroad financier and administrator who reorganized and consolidated railroads in the western United States. He is best remembered for his presidency of Union Pacific Railroad, which he developed into one of the nation's largest transportation companies.

The P&BR received a bronze Harriman Award in 1976 and a certificate for showing the most improvement in 1987 in the switching and terminal group.