A new bill endorses Morgan Stanley’s Conrail bid.

A bipartisan group of legislators introduced legislation authorizing the sale of Conrail to an investor group that says it would sell the freight railroad’s stock in a series of public offerings. The legislation, introduced simultaneously in the House and Senate, endorses the $1.2-billion bid for Conrail made in May by a group of investors headed by Morgan Stanley & Co. of New York. The Morgan Stanley bid is an alternative to Norfolk Southern Corp.’s $1.2-billion offer to purchase the federal government’s 85% interest in Conrail.