Stanley crane
| L. Stanley Crane | |
|---|---|
| Born | Cincinnati, Ohio |
| Died | July 15, 2003 (aged 87–88) Boynton Beach, Fla. |
| Nationality |
 American
|
| Alma mater | The George Washington University |
| Occupation | Railroad executive |
| Known for | Consolidated Rail Corporation |
L. Stanley Crane (1915 – July 15, 2003) was a railroad executive who served as CEO of Southern Railway. Trained as a chemical engineer, Crane was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1978. After retiring from Southern Railway, he worked for Conrail where he later endowed the L. Stanley Crane Chair of engineering in applied sciences at his alma mater, George Washington University.
He graduated from The George Washington University with a chemical engineering degree in 1938. He began his career with Southern Railway. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1978. He worked for the railroad, except for a stint from 1959 to 1961 with the Pennsylvania Railroad, until reaching the company's mandatory retirement age in 1980. Crane went to Conrail in 1981 after a distinguished career that had seen him rise to the position of CEO at the Southern Railway.
Crane went to Conrail in 1981 after a distinguished career that had seen him rise to the position of CEO at the Southern Railway. He presided over the turnaround of deficit-plagued Conrail, then taking it public in a triumphant IPO, and finally seeing it sold to two rival bidders, Norfolk Southern and CSX, for more than $10 billion, (That was five times the price for which the Reagan Administration had been willing to sell the Railroad.) Conrail then began turning a profit by 1981, the result of the Staggers Act freedoms and its own managerial improvements under the leadership of L. Stanley Crane, who had been chief executive officer of the Southern Railway. While the Staggers Act helped immensely in allowing all railroads to more easily abandon unprofitable rail lines and set its own freight rate, it was under Crane's leadership that Conrail truly became a profitable operation. Soon after Crane took office in 1981 he shed another 4,400 miles from the Conrail system in the following two years, which accounted for only 1% of the railroad's overall traffic and 2% of its profits while saving it millions of dollars in maintenance costs.
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