Upon his one year anniversary as CEO, Shaw pens open letter to his Norfolk Southern colleagues

To my Norfolk Southern colleagues:

One year ago, I was given the honor to lead this tremendous Norfolk Southern team. There have been many moments in my career when our company has come together to accomplish big things. None have inspired me more than our response to the derailment in East Palestine. As adversity often does, this event revealed the true character of our organization. We are rising to the challenge, remaining true to our values, and doing the right thing.

As I reflect on the past year and what’s to come, I’d like to share a few thoughts.

Last December, we announced a groundbreaking vision that is a better way forward for Norfolk Southern and the railroad industry. Instead of a short-term focus on cost reduction, we charted a new course built around long-term priorities, long-term business growth, and long-term relationships with stakeholders. This customer-centric, operations-driven service approach is better for our people, our customers, and the communities we serve. It also produces long-term value for the shareholders who trust us with their investments.

Helping East Palestine recover and thrive

Within weeks, our new approach was tested by the derailment in East Palestine. On my first visit in the immediate aftermath, I made a commitment to do whatever it takes to help the community recover and thrive. We made decisions as part of the recovery effort that we knew would have a near-term impact on service and revenue. We made them because they were the right things to do, consistent with our long-term priorities, and leading with our values.

I’ve visited East Palestine almost every week and seen the significant progress we’re making cleaning the site, assisting families and businesses, and investing in the community. I talk regularly to people who live there about what we’re doing well and how we can do more. I’m proud of what we have accomplished to date. We have more work to do and I’m confident we will deliver on our commitments to this community.

We will lead the industry

A safer railroad is a better railroad. The events of the last few months have strengthened our commitment to leading the industry in rail safety.

That leadership starts at home. We are a safe railroad; we can do better. We have already taken actions to further enhance safety, and we are advocates in Washington for federal legislative provisions that have the potential to enhance freight rail safety. It will take the entire industry, including railcar owners, leasing companies, equipment manufacturers, and the railroad companies to make meaningful safety enhancements. We embrace our role.

A better way: leading with reliable and resilient service

Delivering safe, reliable, and resilient service will help us navigate economic cycles and give more customers the confidence to build rail into their supply chains, converting more freight from highway to more sustainable rail. This strategy allows us to make smart investments in people and technology that will make our operations more productive.

We’re also investing in training, creating career opportunities for the front-line employees who are the heart and soul of Norfolk Southern. I enjoy the time I spend in crew rooms listening to my craft colleagues about what they need. I won't stop working until our service and safety culture is the acknowledged model for the industry.

Our powerful network, desirable geographic footprint, best-in-class channel partners, and deep relationships with our customers uniquely position Norfolk Southern to deliver on this strategy.

The best team in the industry, with a bright future

Our company is entrusted with the responsibility of moving the goods and materials that drive the U.S. economy. We earn that trust every day by doing what we say we are going to do.

That means keeping our commitment to do the right thing in East Palestine, learning from the derailment to enhance safety in our industry, providing our customers with safe, reliable, and resilient service over the long term, delivering on our strategy, and collaborating with union leadership for the good of our craft colleagues.

Our response to East Palestine reinforced my conviction that staying true to our core values as a customer-centric, operations-driven service organization and doing what’s right for our customers, employees, shareholders and the communities we serve is the right approach for long-term value creation at Norfolk Southern.

The last few months haven’t been easy. We will be better because of this experience. We are a strong company with a bright future. Thank you for everything you do for Norfolk Southern, our customers, and the communities we serve.

Together, there is no limit to what we can accomplish.

Alan H. Shaw
President & CEO
Norfolk Southern Corporation