Railroad News

Norfolk Southern Railway is expanding its conductor trainee incentive program to Bellevue, Ohio; Elkhart, Indiana; and Fort Wayne, Indiana.

The program includes starting bonuses of $5,000.

Norfolk Southern Railway yesterday announced a partnership with Commtrex to increase access to and visibility of transload facilities on the Class I’s network.

Shippers using the network will be able to use Commtrex’s database to search among the 32 rail-served transload facilities by location, commodities handled and other parameters, NS officials said in a press release. That will help shippers connect to every major container port in the eastern United States, they added.

Norfolk Southern Corp. has donated the complete collection of historical documents and archives from predecessor company Norfolk and Western Railway to the Virginia Museum of History & Culture, the company announced today.

The collection dates back to the 1840s and includes thousands of photographs and glass plate negatives, as well as business records, annual reports, blueprints, plans, bridge drawings, advertisements, portraits and three-dimensional artifacts from predecessor railroads that together provide a look into the growth of rail transportation across the eastern United States.

Norfolk Southern Railway recently received the Responsible Care Energy Efficiency Award for Locomotive Fuel Efficiency from the American Chemistry Council (ACC) and the 2022 Green Bond of the Year Award from Environmental Finance for a number of sustainability achievements.

The ACC award recognizes member companies for initiatives that improve energy usage. The council honored NS’ locomotive fuel efficiency program with an exceptional merit designation.

Norfolk Southern Railway today announced the launch of a next-generation carbon calculator for customers to measure carbon emissions in their supply chain decisions.

The calculator enhances the accuracy of carbon estimates by capturing the entire cycle of fuel usage, NS officials said in a press release. Direct fuel consumption from locomotives is applied to every rail car based on weight and distance traveled, and additional fuel accounted for includes yard and local operations, equipment repositioning and fuel expended while handling containers in intermodal operations. The tool generates a rail fuel efficiency factor for 18 rail-car types and 30 commodities.

The federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) has helped paved the way for Norfolk Southern Railway and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) to collaborate on an operating agreement and finalize the improvements required to increase passenger-rail service between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, state and NS officials announced last week.

Passenger-rail funds included in the IIJA will enable improvements on the NS-owned rail corridor west of Harrisburg. The engineering and construction will stem from an NS operational feasibility study identifying the improvements required to eliminate eight chokepoints and to allow freight and passenger trains to operate without conflicting with each other.

Norfolk Southern Corp. yesterday announced it's offering starting bonuses of up to $5,000 for conductor trainees staffed in priority locations and $2,500 for those stationed in other locations.

Priority locations include Binghamton and Buffalo, New York; Cincinnati, Ohio; Louisville, Kentucky; Manassas and Roanoke, Virginia; Harrisburg and Conway, Pennsylvania; Birmingham and Sheffield, Alabama; Chattanooga, Tennessee; and Linwood, North Carolina.

Norfolk Southern Corp. has earned a spot on CDP's 2021 Supplier Engagement Leaderboard, the company announced yesterday.

CDP is the leading carbon disclosure system for the global business community. NS was recently recognized with an A- climate change rating in CDP's highest rated tier, the leadership level.

Norfolk Southern Railway has installed five new diesel-electric hybrid overhead gantry cranes at its Chicago Landers and Atlanta Inman intermodal terminals.

The 60-foot cranes are fuel efficient and further the Class I’s sustainability goals by reducing air emissions, NS officials said in a press release issued yesterday. The new cranes are in addition to the railroad's first five hybrid Konecranes introduced to Chicago operations in 2021 at the 47th Street intermodal facility.

Norfolk Southern Corp. today announced changes to its board, including the naming of Amy Miles as non-executive chair effective May 1.

Miles has been a member of NS' board since 2014. Alan Shaw, who was appointed president in December 2021, will join the board when he assumes the role of CEO in connection with the planned retirement of Chairman and CEO James Squires on May 1.

Norfolk Southern Railway and the Ludlow Heritage Museum have signed a property lease agreement to preserve the NS-owned Ludlow Yard Store House building in Kentucky.

The agreement allows museum officials to renovate the building and repurpose it into its new headquarters. The building is historically significant because it’s the last remaining original structure in Ludlow used by the Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific Railway, which became part of Southern Railway and later Norfolk Southern.

Norfolk Southern Corp. today announced that Chairman and CEO James Squires plans to retire May 1, 2022, at which time Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Alan Shaw will become CEO.

As part of the company's planned succession process, the board of directors has elected Shaw to the role of president, effective immediately. The company's executive leadership team now reports to Shaw, NS officials said in a press release.

Norfolk Southern Corp. yesterday formally opened its new headquarters in Midtown Atlanta.

Guests who attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony included Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and civic and business leaders from across the city, NS officials said in a press release.

Norfolk Southern Railway last week filed a lawsuit that seeks to stop several labor unions from suing over the Class I’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Last week, NS, represented by Jones Day, field a petition in Chicago federal court claiming the unions’ objections to the vaccine requirement must be brought in arbitration and not in court, according to a Reuters report.