According to the Class I railroad, it “powered progress” in 2023 by:
1. Enhancing safety at every level of operations. NS said in 2023 it committed to making “our safe railroad even safer” by retaining Atkins Nuclear Secured to conduct a multi-year independent review of the railroad’s safety culture, safety-related training programs, employee engagement, oversight and monitoring, and communications protocols and practices; by introducing six-point safety and craft workforce engagement plans to guide its actions; and by beginning work on a new regional safety training center in East Palestine that it said will provide ongoing, free training for first responders from Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and the greater region, following the Feb. 3 derailment.
2. Becoming “the first Class I railroad to reach an agreement on paid sick leave” for craft railroaders in all 12 unions. In partnership with unions, NS said it continues “to listen to feedback and make strides to improve the quality of life for our craft railroaders.”
3. Creating a “first-of-its-kind” First & Final Mile Markets department. The new department, which NS calls “the Swiss Army knife of services,” aims to deliver “integrated solutions that encompass rail, terminal and trucking to offer customers flexibility in their logistics choices” (see graphic below). The department is led by Stefan Loeb, a former Watco executive.
4. Working with drayage partners “to reimagine how we work to better serve our intermodal customers.” Through the ModalView app, NS said its intermodal customers “will have a full and transparent view into their shipments and a seamless administrative experience.” In September, the railroad reported making an $8 million investment in DrayNow Inc., the provider of a real-time geo-tracking and ETA platform that integrates directly with TMS (transportation management system) software via EDI and API to connect small fleet owner-operators with brokers who need first and last-mile intermodal drayage service.
5. Launching its first Digital Train Inspection Portal in Leetonia, Ohio, “to further enhance rail safety.” According to NS, the portals are being deployed at key points across its 22-state network (watch video below), and feature Machine Vision Inspection technology developed in partnership with the Georgia Tech Research Institute. “By using ultra-high-res, 360-degree images of our passing railcars, the portals can proactively evaluate for potential defects with very high accuracy levels and very low false-positive rates,” according to NS, which aims to have more than a dozen portals deployed by the end of 2024.
6. Creating two new grant programs, Safety First and Thriving Communities. According to NS, the programs have awarded nearly $5 million to support 330 community and first responder organizations across its network. Safety First grants support first responders and public safety efforts while Thriving Communities grants are said to promote sustainability initiatives, workforce development programs, and community resiliency efforts.
7. Launching a Rail Emissions Report tool to help customers “calculate the carbon savings they achieve when they opt to move shipments by rail.” Customers can track their sustainability progress, including total carbon dioxide emissions, fuel consumption, and train miles traveled (see video below). The tool is powered by primary fuel burn data directly from locomotives that can be corroborated up to every 15 minutes, according to NS. Fuel burn, the railroad said, can be applied to each shipment based on weight as it travels across the NS network. Combining fuel burn with other estimates for yard and local service, empty repositioning, and idling, NS said it can “provide customers with visibility into the full lifecycle of moving a shipment” across its network.
8. Growing its intermodal franchise. NS partnered with CN to expand domestic intermodal service between Canada, Kansas City, and Atlanta (see map below) and with Florida East Coast Railway to expand both domestic and international intermodal services in Florida.
9. Growing its “strategic footprint in key markets.” NS was selected as the rail service provider for Georgia Ports Authority’s (GPA) new $127 million Blue Ridge Connector, an inland rail terminal in Gainesville, Ga., linking northeast Georgia with the Port of Savannah’s 35 global container ship services. NS will connect the facility, slated to open in 2026, to GPA’s Mason Mega Rail terminal in Savannah.
10. Helping customers find “premier” rail-served property or property near rail to expand their business. This includes Anchor Ingredients, which will build an NS-served transload facility for pet food in Indiana; Idaho Forest Group, which earlier this year opened an NS-served lumber mill in Mississippi; and Scout Motors, whose South Carolina EV facility is expected to open in 2026 and be served by NS.
“We’re proud of what our team has accomplished in 2023, and we’re excited for what 2024 has in store,” NS concluded.
