On Nov. 12, Norfolk Southern EVP and Chief Marketing Officer Ed Elkins joined Bloomberg Intelligence’s Talking Transports podcast to discuss NS’ performance, company strategy, growth opportunities, and more.

Here are key takeaways from Ed’s interview:

Strategic Growth with Unified Vision

Ed emphasized that NS’ strategy was developed by a team of leaders, including himself and CEO Mark George, to address a key question: how can railroads grow again? “[Our strategy]’s the answer we came up with, and we think it’s the right one. I would argue that we’re closer than ever to be able to implement that vision.”

“Our strategy is a combination of providing a very high quality, predictable service which has safety as its foundations, and being as productive as we possibly can be as we deliver that service. We believe that this combination delivers growth for Norfolk Southern and our shareholders, but it also delivers growth for our customers.”

Intermodal Growth Potential

Ed highlighted intermodal transportation as a key strength for NS and its customers, underscoring the extensive reach of NS’ strategic footprint.

“Intermodal is and should continue to be a very compelling value proposition for not only the U.S. consumer base, but for those global companies that are looking to service our consumers here in North America. [Our intermodal network] is the second largest in North America, and it's the largest publicly traded Intermodal franchise in the world.”

Long-Term Focus

Ed discussed three “tranches of freight typologies,” rail-centric, truck-centric, and flexible freight. He pointed to flexible freight – freight that can be moved by truck or rail – as an area for long term growth and explained how NS’ strategy is positioned to reclaim market share over time.

“It really comes down to, can we provide that safe, reliable, resilient product over a fairly long period of time that people can count on every single day? If we can, then they can build their supply chains around that service and save themselves a lot of money, deliver a lot of value for their customers, and reduce a lot of carbon emissions along the way.”

To listen to the full episode, visit Bloomberg.