Former Conrail Inc. workers have reached the end of the line in their...

Former Conrail Inc. workers have reached the end of the line in their efforts to get a share of a $500 million-plus employee stock ownership plan surplus. Several thousand former railroad workers had contended they were entitled to a share of the company’s surplus ESOP assets when the company was broken up and sold to Norfolk Southern Corp. and CSX Corp. in 1997. The surplus arose when Conrail was acquired at a premium over the stock price at which the ESOP had acquired the shares. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal and let stand a lower court’s decision that the workers got everything they were promised.