March 5, 1997

Lord's Resistance Army, Ugandan rebel group, has stepped up violent campaign to overthrow Pres Yoweri Museveni, who vowed year ago to wipe rebels out; rebels' war consists mainly of killing civilians, sowing terror in countryside and making it appear to Ugandans and outside world that central Government cannot control nation; rebels have killed at least 400 people in districts of Kitgum and Gulu since Jan; Western diplomats say rebels have little popular support and survive mostly on charity of Sudan, where their leader Joseph Kony holds court; map; photo (M)

Many railroad experts, with Conrail, CSX and rival Norfolk Southern Corp negotiating more or less equitable division of Conrail in the East, see creation of transcontinental railroads as next step in merger process that has swept rail industry since deregulation in 1980; if all goes as planned, there will soon be two major railroads in the West, Burlington Northern and Union Pacific, and two in the East, CSX and Norfolk Southern; map (L)

NEW JERSEY DAILY BRIEFING: New Study on a Fuel Additive**Campaign by Oxy-Busters, begun in 1992, to have New Jersey get rid of additive methyl tertiary butyl ether, intended to reduce carbon monoxide in car emissions and improve air quality, continues (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

Representative Robert E Andrews of Haddon Heights broadens his support in northern New Jersey as his gubernatorial campaign receives endorsement from another Democratic Congressman, Robert Menendez of Union City (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

ON PAY RAISES -- Legislative leaders have begun discussing a proposal to give legislators, the governor and other state officials pay increases tied to the inflation rate. B2. EXTENDING A TAX -- Agreement has been reached in Albany to extend a tax surcharge that Mayor Giuliani depends on to balance the city's budget. B3. CALL FOR DEPORTATION -- The mother of a rabbinical student killed in a shooting on the Brooklyn Bridge asked why one of the men involved in the crime had not been deported despite the fact that he is in the country illegally. B3. FAMILY FEUD -- Charges of religious persecution at the Hasidic village of Kiryas Joel have spilled into a Federal courtroom. B8.