CSX is to buy Conrail for $115 a share by June 2 and negotiate with Norfolk Southern to split Conrail's freight network.

That April, they agreed to buy Conrail jointly for $10.3 billion, with Norfolk Southern getting 58 percent and CSX 42 percent.

That would be good news for stockholders, since both railroads added greatly to their debt load to buy Conrail.

Norfolk Southern had bid $1.9 billion to buy Conrail, the Northeast freight line, from the Government.

In the past, CSX and Norfolk have held secret negotiations concerning a more far-reaching solution: buying Conrail and splitting the railroad between them.

In 1983, the RLEA made an offer to buy Conrail from the U.S. government.

In 1996, CSX Transportation bid to buy Conrail.

Norfolk Southern tried to buy Conrail from the Government, and no doubt would still be interested, but again politics could cause problems.

CSX and Norfolk Southern, which dominate rail freight east of the Mississippi, bought Conrail for $10.2 billion last year.

The two railroads, which agreed to buy Conrail jointly for $10.3 billion in April 1997, have been planning the takeover for months.