NORFOLK SOUTHERN CORP

Norfolk Southern is one of the five biggest railroad operators in North America by its revenue. It operates in 22 states and in Washington, D.C. The company's market capitalization stood at nearly $58 billion in February 2024. In October 2025, Norfolk Southern contributed $500,000 to support the unification of major railroad history collections in Atlanta, creating one of the most comprehensive railroad history collections in the United States. Under the agreement, the Atlanta History Center acquired nearly 1,000 linear feet of records.

Corporate history

Predecessors

Norfolk Southern's predecessor railroads date to the early 19th century. The South Carolina Canal & Rail Road was the SOU's earliest predecessor line. Chartered in 1827, the South Carolina Canal & Rail Road Company became the first to offer regularly scheduled passenger train service with the inaugural run of the Best Friend of Charleston in 1830. Another early predecessor, the Richmond & Danville Railroad (R&D), was formed in 1847 and expanded into a large system after the American Civil War under Algernon S. Buford. The R&D ultimately fell on hard times, and in 1894, it became a major portion of the new Southern Railway (SOU). Financier J. P. Morgan selected veteran railroader Samuel Spencer as president. Profitable and innovative, Southern became, in 1953, the first major US railroad to completely switch to diesel-electric locomotives from steam.

The City Point Railroad, established in 1838, was a 9-mile (14 km) railroad in Virginia that started south of Richmond —specifically, City Point on the navigable portion of the James River, now part of the independent city of Hopewell —and ran to Petersburg. It was acquired by the South Side Railroad in 1854. After the Civil War, it became part of the Atlantic, Mississippi & Ohio Railroad (AM&O), a trunk line across Virginia's southern tier formed by mergers in 1870 by William Mahone, who had built the Norfolk & Petersburg Railroad in the 1850s. The AM&O was the oldest portion of the Norfolk & Western (N&W) when it was formed in 1881, under E. W. Clark & Co., ownership with a keen interest and financial investments in the coal fields of Western Virginia and West Virginia. In the second half of the 20th century, the N&W acquired the Virginian Railway (1959), the Wabash Railway, and the Nickel Plate Road, among others. The Nickel Plate added a high-speed corridor between Buffalo, New York, and Chicago and gave the railroad deeper access into Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio in 1964.

Formation

In January 1979, major eastern United States railroad holding companies Chessie System and Seaboard System Railroad applied to the Interstate Commerce Commission for approval to merge and create CSX Corporation. In response, the Southern Railway (SOU, formed in 1894) and Norfolk & Western Railway (N&W, formed in 1881) quickly decided a merger of their own would be advantageous. The two companies announced their merger plans in April 1979; the CSX merger went ahead in 1980. In 1982, SOU and N&W concluded their own merger, creating Norfolk Southern Corporation. In 1990, Norfolk Southern Corporation transferred all the common stock of N&W to Southern, and Southern's name was changed to Norfolk Southern Railway Company. In 1998, Norfolk and Western was merged into Norfolk Southern Railway, forming one, united, railroad. Headquarters for the new NS were established in Norfolk, Virginia. The company suffered a slight embarrassment when the marble headpiece at the building's entrance was unveiled, which read "Norfork Southern Railway". A new headpiece replaced the erroneous one several weeks later.

Conrail purchase

The system grew with the acquisition of over half of Conrail. The Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) was an 11,000-mile (18,000 km) system formed in 1976 from the Penn Central Railroad (1968–1976), and five other ailing northeastern railroads that were conveyed into it, forming a government-financed corporation. Conrail was perhaps the most controversial conglomerate in corporate history. [ citation needed ] Penn Central itself was created by merging three venerable rivals—the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR, 1846), the New York Central Railroad (NYC, 1831), and the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad (NYNH&H, 1872)—as well as some smaller competitors. In 1980, Conrail became profitable after the Staggers Act largely deregulated the US railroad industry.

When the US government offered up Conrail for sale in 1983, Norfolk Southern was one of the 18 bidders to make offers. The government decided the NS offer was the best choice, and by 1985 had begun planning to sell Conrail to NS. Extensive opposition from competitors, particularly CSX, persuaded the government that selling Conrail to one railroad would create too powerful of a company. As an alternative, Conrail leader (and former Southern Railway CEO) L. Stanley Crane proposed an initial public offering to privatize the company, which was ultimately carried out in 1987 instead of a sale to one operator.

NS again expressed interest in a Conrail purchase in 1994, but this time Conrail publicly stated it had no interest in selling to another company. The company began to reconsider this stance after several expansion initiatives failed. After confidential discussions, Conrail and CSX made a surprise announcement in October 1996 that CSX would acquire the company. Norfolk Southern was unwilling to let a CSX purchase go through, beginning a bidding war between the two competitors that was only resolved in January 1997 when an agreement was reached to split Conrail.

NS and CSX applied to the Surface Transportation Board (STB) for authority to purchase, divide, and operate the assets of Conrail in June 1997. On June 8, 1998, the STB approved the NS-CSX application, effective August 22, 1998. NS acquired 58% of Conrail assets, including about 7,200 miles (11,600 km) of track, most of which was part of the former Pennsylvania Railroad. CSX got the remaining 42%. NS began operating its trains on its portion of the former Conrail network on June 1, 1999, closing out the 1990s merger era.

Pennsylvania Lines LLC

Pennsylvania Lines LLC was a limited liability company was formed in 1998 to own Conrail lines assigned to Norfolk Southern in the split of Conrail; operations were switched over on June 1, 1999. The company is named after the old Pennsylvania Railroad, whose old main line was a line of the new company. In November, 2003, the Surface Transportation Board approved a plan allowing Norfolk Southern to fully absorb Pennsylvania Lines LLC, which was done on August 27, 2004.

21st century

In 2016, a proposed merger that had been months in the pipeline with Canadian Pacific was abandoned abruptly. According to NS's 2022 Annual Report to Investors, at the end of 2022, NS had 19,300 employees, 3,190 locomotives, and 40,470 freight cars. At the end of 2022, the transport of coal made up 14% of the total operating revenue of NS, general merchandise (automotive, chemicals, metals, construction materials, agriculture commodities, consumer products, paper, clay, forest products, and more) made up 57%, and intermodal made up 29% of the total.

On December 12, 2018, Norfolk Southern announced that it would be leaving its hometown of Norfolk, Virginia after 38 years and moving its headquarters to Atlanta. The new Atlanta headquarters building opened on November 10, 2021. In June 2023, Norfolk Southern became the first major North American railroad to offer sick time to all union workers. In July 2023, Norfolk Southern announced plans to purchase the Cincinnati Southern Railway for $1.6 billion. Cincinnati voters approved the sale in the November 2023 election. Norfolk Southern will pay the city $1.6 billion and Cincinnati will establish a trust fund with the money, with earned interest going back to Cincinnati to maintain infrastructure.

In 2024, the company nominated a slate of new board members. In a letter to shareholders, NS asked them to vote for its slate of 13 nominees at its May shareholder meeting. The company defended its choice of board members, citing the board's work to improve long-term shareholder value, hold management accountable, and improve safety and operational performance. Among the 13 nominees, two of them are for new independent directors— Richard H. Anderson, former CEO of Amtrak and Delta Air Lines, and Heidi Heitkamp, a former US Senator. In 2023, retired Navy Admiral Philip Davidson, and Francesca DeBiase, former executive at McDonald's Corporation, were appointed to the board.

Proposed merger

On July 29, 2025, the Union Pacific Railroad announced plans to acquire Norfolk Southern in a deal worth $85 billion. If approved by regulators, it would create the first transcontinental railroad network in the United States, and would span some 50,000 miles across 43 states. However, the merger would put around two-fifths of rail freight in the hands of one company, raising concerns that it would reduce competition in a critical industry.

Union Pacific says more than 100 customers, Hub Group, and Nebraska's two US senators support the merger for its promised cost savings, improved service, and reduced congestion, while the Intermodal Association of North America has taken a neutral stance focused on efficiency and customer service. However, seven shipper groups, major industry associations, rail labor unions, and several US senators including Chuck Schumer, Tammy Baldwin, and Roger Marshall have opposed or criticized the merger, citing risks of higher costs, reduced service and competition, safety concerns, job losses, and excessive consolidation of rail power.

In September 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump, during his second presidency, publicly commented in favor of the proposed Union Pacific–Norfolk Southern merger. Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern submitted an amended application on April 30, 2026, that was accepted by the Surface Transportation Board on May 28, 2026, with a request for additional information. The proposal is under review by the Surface Transportation Board. Shareholders overwhelmingly voted to approve the merger on November 14, 2025.

Environmental history

Norfolk Southern is popularly known as the company responsible for the environmental disaster it caused in East Palestine Ohio.

In early spring of 2008, NS upgraded 3,800 of its locomotives with new technology that is 73 percent more efficient than previous models. The new technology being put into the locomotives makes the ride more fuel efficient and reduces idle time. In 2009, the company introduced an experimental battery-electric switcher locomotive, NS 999. This prototype locomotive was developed by Norfolk Southern in collaboration with the United States Department of Energy, the Federal Railroad Administration and the Pennsylvania State University.

Norfolk Southern reduced core greenhouse gasses by 13.5% between 2019 and 2021. For its efforts, the company achieved recognition from USA Today's America's Climate Leaders 2023 and Forbes' Net Zero Leaders 2023. In November 2022, Norfolk Southern contributed $750,000 to the Georgia Tech sustainability program for the next three years. To align itself with climate-change goals set by the Paris Agreement, NS aimed in 2022 to cut its Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 42% by 2034. NS began efforts to lower emissions, such as modernizing more than 100 locomotives each year and equipping 93% of its active locomotive fleet, or 1,550 locomotives, with energy-management technology.

The company has made efforts to improve environmental sustainability, according to Progressive Railroading magazine. In 2007, the company established the rail industry's first chief sustainability officer and published its first sustainability report in 2008. In 2021, Norfolk Southern set a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions intensity by 42% by 2034 and had already achieved a 6% reduction. The company is also upgrading 1,000 locomotives to increase fuel efficiency and incorporate biofuels and renewable energy into its operations.

Labor history

Norfolk Southern reached early agreements with four major rail unions ahead of the start of national bargaining in 2024, covering pay, benefits, and work rules. A labor dispute between Norfolk Southern Railway and railway workers began in 2019. In September 2022, the union and companies involved tentatively agreed to a deal, but it was rejected by a majority of the union's members. In late 2022, Congress intervened to prevent a strike by passing the tentative deal into law.

Norfolk Southern was the first railroad to offer paid sick leave to all employees. In May 2023, Norfolk Southern agreed to provide up to seven paid sick days per year to employees, meeting one of the workforce demands that nearly led to a nation-wide rail strike in December 2022. On December 6, 2022, Norfolk Southern announced a new service-and-growth plan to maintain its train crew levels during downturns. In 2024, an investor group led an effort to remove Alan Shaw as CEO and replaced seven directors on the company's board. Labor was divided on the issue, which led to a proxy battle ahead of an annual shareholder meeting. Unions criticized investors' plans to replace Shaw and implement an industry operating model known as Precision Scheduled Railroading, saying such a model is "unrealistic." In the end, shareholders voted to keep Shaw as CEO, but voted in three new directors.

Norfolk Southern Railway Police

Norfolk Southern Railway maintains the Norfolk Southern Police Department, a private railroad police force, to enforce laws and investigate incidents involving the company's property. Based in Atlanta, it operates in 22 states with special agents to protect employees, the public, company property, and freight. Officers receive state-mandated training to maintain certification, along with annual training provided by the department. The department's Police Communications Center, also in Atlanta, coordinates responses to potential threats or incidents across the railroad's 20,000 miles of track. The department runs a program, "Protect the Line," that encourages citizens and employees to report suspicious activity.

In November 2024, shots were fired at Norfolk Southern Railway police officers as they investigated a burglary in Chicago. The officers were unharmed, and the suspects fled.