Norfolk Southern recognizes that moving the needle on safety requires all team members. It’s a joint effort with our people and our process. With 20,000 of our railroaders dedicated to this goal every day, we’re committed to achieving the gold standard of safety in the rail industry.

In 2023, following the derailment in East Palestine, we demonstrated our values and commitment to making it right for the community. We also achieved significant safety improvements: 

• Approximate 38% reduction in mainline accident rate year-over-year in 2023
• 28% reduction in Norfolk Southern employee injury rate since 2020
• Installed 187 out of a planned 259 hot bearing detector systems since announcing our Six-Point Safety Plan
• Deployed 17 new acoustic bearing detectors, significantly expanding our safety technology network
• Brought our FRA Personal Injury Index down from 1.51 in 2020 to 1.09 in 2023, almost 14% lower than the 10-year average
• 218 Centralized Traffic Control (CTC) over Interoperable Train Control Messaging (ITCM) towers installed

A critical part of ensuring the safety of the communities we serve is training and partnering with local first responders for potential transportation-related incidents. Our Operations Awareness and Response (OAR) program trains more than 5,000 first responders annually across our 22-state network. Since the program's launch in 2015, we’ve trained over 45,000 first responders, providing hands-on experience and the knowledge to stay safe during a rail incident response.

Norfolk Southern’s Operation Awareness and Response (OAR) program trains more than 5,000 first responders annually across our 22-state footprint. [image source]

In September 2023, we broke ground on a first-of-its-kind regional safety training center right in the heart of East Palestine. The center will expand upon the OAR program and provide free, ongoing training on a wide range of emergency scenarios including specialized training for transportation-related incidents. The new facility will play a vital role in helping all first responders, especially volunteers, get the training and expertise they need to respond to emergency scenarios.

For a more comprehensive look at how Norfolk Southern is setting the gold standard of safety, check out our full “Forging a Better Tomorrow” report.