Norfolk Southern Chief Operating Officer John Orr detailed efforts by the NS team to advance key performance indicators (KPIs), as well as opportunities to grow and drive further efficiencies for our customers.

The comments came during a fireside chat that opened the Wolfe 17th Annual Global Transportation & Industrials Conference in New York on May 22.

Here are three key quotes from the conversation:

A pathway forward toward greater success

“I'm very confident that as we move towards the latter part of the year, we'll see the commitment of 400 to 450 basis points take out on our cost structure will come into play.”

Redesigning a terminal plan for the South

“And while after fixing the terminals and improving the terminal clocks on the flows in and out of the terminals, we're able then to put more context around a north-south orientation. So, we've redesigned the train service plan for the south of the network. We did that 3 weeks ago. We're running a reinvigorated plan. On the north next week, the end of May, we are introducing the next phase, so the northern part of it.”

Advancing Intermodal performance

“So, we've had some of the best intermodal composite performance over the last two, three months -- well, two months that we've seen in almost a decade. And that's pulling back some of the behavior over the road and creating more balance for our merchandise, more prioritization of our merchandise. But that's only made possible by terminal engagement and making sure that first mile and last mile are absolutely efficient and giving up a little bit in the middle so that we can benefit the overall network.”

Access the presentation here to listen to the conversation.