CHICAGO, March 27, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- "21st century freight railroads are listening to our customers and communities, innovating to meet their needs, and steadily improving our ability to serve as the backbone of the next Industrial Revolution," Norfolk Southern Corporation's chairman and CEO told attendees at the Forbes' "Reinventing America – Leading the Next Industrial Revolution" Summit here.

"Today's freight railroads are safe, dependable, efficient, and green," Wick Moorman said. "We move the raw materials, intermediate products, and finished goods that move the economy. The good news is that we have the capability and desire to do much more."

Addressing a discussion theme that posited, "Once left for dead as a relic of the 19^th century, railroads are emerging as the most important logistics system of the 21^st century," Moorman described several Norfolk Southern initiatives contributing to what often is called the "rail renaissance."

On the technology side these include Movement Planner and the Unified Train Control dispatching systems developed in collaboration with GE, and the LEADER system for locomotive fuel efficiency. In the marketing arena, Moorman highlighted NS' expanding services to the crude oil industry, and the export automotive trade, where the railroad handles a large percentage of vehicles destined for global markets. "When you see a Norfolk Southern train, that's our economy in motion," he said.

"The earliest predecessors of Norfolk Southern were born at the end of the first Industrial Revolution, and railroads came into their own during the second Industrial Revolution," Moorman said. "We build our infrastructure and systems for the long-term – investing $10 billion since 2010 alone. We plan to be around another 180 years, and you can count on us to do our part to usher in a new age of growth."

Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC) is one of the nation's premier transportation companies. Its Norfolk Southern Railway Company subsidiary operates approximately 20,000 route miles in 22 states and the District of Columbia, serves every major container port in the eastern United States, and provides efficient connections to other rail carriers. Norfolk Southern operates the most extensive intermodal network in the East and is a major transporter of coal, automotive, and industrial products.

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SOURCE Norfolk Southern Corporation