Norfolk Southern says that coal shipment changes in Virginia were only mildly impacted by West Virginia's mine safety shutdown.

"We do not expect the safety stand-downs to affect our operations," said Robin Chapman of Norfolk Southern. The railroad was expecting the safety inspections to interrupt work in the mines for only a couple of hours, Chapman said.

NS counts on coal traffic for more than one-fourth of the railroad's revenues, although sluggish shipping seems to have more to do with the capacity of receiving facilities, availability of empty hoppers and route capacity.

If the West Virginia Governor's request to halt mining entirely until safety inspections could be complete, NS still feels rail operations wouldn't be adversely impacted unless it lasted several weeks.

Most NS-hauled coal originates in Virginia and Kentucky. NS serves some 142 active mines with around 49 mines being located in West Virginia - though some are inactive.