Railroad News

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.

In the wake of recent record demand, Norfolk Southern Railway is making several changes and upgrades at its Landers intermodal terminal in Chicago, the Class I announced in a customer advisory.

To increase capacity, NS has reconfigured its footprint to boost stacked container capacity by 60%. Reach-stackers — with three in service and three more coming — are being added to increase lift capacity by 40% an hour and reduce driver dwell for pickups, the NS advisory stated.

Norfolk Southern Corp. shareholders yesterday elected 13 directors for one-year terms expiring in 2022.

The following individuals were elected to the board, according to preliminary results: Thomas Bell Jr., Mitchell Daniels Jr., Marcela Donadio, John Huffard Jr., Christopher Jones, Thomas Kelleher, Steven Leer, Michael Lockhart, Amy Miles, Claude Mongeau, Jennifer Scanlon, James Squires and John Thompson.

Norfolk Southern Corp. yesterday closed a $500 million green-bond offering to fund investments to reduce the company’s carbon emissions and help customers reduce their supply-chain emissions.

NS is the first Class I in North America to issue green bonds, according to the railroad.

Norfolk Southern Corp. today reported first-quarter 2021 net income rose to $673 million, or $2.66 earnings per diluted share, compared with $381 million, or $1.47 per diluted share, for the year-earlier period.

Railway operating revenue of $2.6 billion increased 1%, or $14 million, compared with Q1 2020, driven primarily by a 3% increase in volume, NS officials said in a press release.

Norfolk Southern Corp. is well-positioned to "safely and successfully" weather the unprecedented situation presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, NS President and Chief Executive Officer James Squires said last week at the company's annual meeting of shareholders.

Squires addressed shareholders May 14 during the company's first virtual-only annual meeting, a board decision made in response to public health concerns and social distance guidance for the pandemic.

Sound Transit this week completed Connect 2020, an 11-week project to connect the existing Link light-rail system to the 14-mile East Link extension in Seattle. 

The agency’s existing rail tunnel is now configured for East Link in preparation for extended service to Mercer Island, Bellevue and Redmond, Washington, via 10 new stations in 2023.

During 2018, Norfolk Southern Corp. decreased its greenhouse gas emissions by 2.6 percent year over year and achieved an all-time best operating ratio of 65 percent, according to the Class I's 12th annual Corporate Social Responsibility report.

Released yesterday, the report details NS' environmental, economic and social impacts during 2018 and early 2019.

Norfolk Southern Corp. announced yesterday that Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Cynthia Earhart will retire on Nov. 1. She will be succeeded by Mark George.

Earhart joined NS in 1985 in the accounting department, where she held positions of increasing responsibility, including assistant VP, before transitioning to information technology.

Norfolk Southern Corp.'s board yesterday approved new responsibilities for Michael Farrell and Vanessa Allen Sutherland effective tomorrow.

As senior vice president of operations and mechanical, Farrell will assume responsibility for the railroad's transportation and mechanical functions.