In 1983, Crane began a five-year battle with Transportation Secretary Elizabeth H. Dole to hold onto Conrail. Crane was an outspoken critic of Dole's proposal to sell the rail system to Norfolk Southern Corporation, and fought for a public stock offering to return the railroad to the private sector. In November 1986, Crane delivered a check for $200 million to President Ronald Reagan. By that spring, Conrail paid an additional $100 million to the government. In March 1987, the government sold Conrail in a public stock offering. Investors on the New York Stock Exchange quickly snapped up 58,750,000 shares of Conrail; the sale netted $1.58 billion. Crane later saw Conrail sold to two rival bidders, Norfolk Southern and CSX, for more than $10 billion (five times the price for which the Reagan Administration had been willing to sell the railroad).