# Norfolk Southern **Source:** https://geo.sig.ai/brands/norfolk-southern **Vertical:** Manufacturing **Subcategory:** Enterprise **Tier:** Leader **Website:** norfolk-southern.com **Last Updated:** 2026-04-14 ## Summary Norfolk Southern (NSC) reported $12.1B revenue in FY2024, down 1% YoY. Major US eastern railroad. 19,500 route miles across 22 eastern states. ~19,000 employees. HQ: Atlanta, GA. ## Company Overview Norfolk Southern Corporation is one of the largest freight railroads in the eastern United States, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Formed through a series of rail mergers culminating in the 1982 creation of NS as a holding company for Southern Railway and Norfolk and Western Railway, the company operates 19,500 route miles across 22 states east of the Mississippi River. Norfolk Southern reported revenues of $12.1B in FY2024, approximately flat year-over-year, with a market capitalization of approximately $50B. Norfolk Southern's network connects major eastern US markets including Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Newark, and Philadelphia, as well as coal regions in Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky. The railroad moves merchandise (chemicals, automotive, metals, machinery, ~60% of revenue), intermodal containers (truckload substitution and port traffic, ~25%), and coal (~15%). NS operates 28 intermodal terminals and serves 10 major river, lake, and deepwater ports. The railroad is a critical link for auto manufacturing (serving Ford, GM, Toyota, Honda plants), chemical distribution, and East Coast port imports. Norfolk Southern faced significant challenges in 2023 following the East Palestine, Ohio derailment — a major operational incident that required over $1B in remediation costs and management changes. CEO Alan Shaw was replaced by Mark George in 2024 amid an activist campaign by Ancora Holdings. The company is now focused on operational efficiency, safety culture improvements, and returning to industry-leading operating ratio performance. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Norfolk Southern's annual revenue? Norfolk Southern reported $12.1B in revenue for FY2024, approximately flat year-over-year, as the railroad worked through operational challenges following the East Palestine derailment and management transition. ### What does Norfolk Southern do? Norfolk Southern operates a freight railroad network across 22 eastern US states, moving merchandise (chemicals, automotive, metals), intermodal containers, and coal over 19,500 route miles. ### What is Norfolk Southern's stock ticker? Norfolk Southern trades on NYSE under ticker NSC. It is a component of the S&P 500. ### Who are Norfolk Southern's competitors? Norfolk Southern's primary eastern railroad competitor is CSX Corporation (CSX), which operates a parallel network in the eastern US. Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) also compete for some traffic flows. Trucking companies (J.B. Hunt, XPO) compete for intermodal and short-haul freight. ### What was the East Palestine derailment? On February 3, 2023, a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, spilling and burning vinyl chloride and other hazardous chemicals. The incident led to over $1B in costs, significant regulatory scrutiny, management changes, and an ongoing focus on improving safety culture at the railroad. ### What happened in the East Palestine, Ohio derailment and how has it affected Norfolk Southern? In February 2023, a Norfolk Southern freight train carrying hazardous materials including vinyl chloride derailed near East Palestine, Ohio, triggering a controlled burn of the spilled chemicals that released toxic plumes over the community. The incident became one of the most significant US railroad safety events in decades, leading to Congressional scrutiny, EPA-supervised environmental remediation, over $1 billion in community compensation and cleanup costs for Norfolk Southern, and new federal regulatory proposals for hazardous materials transport and automated braking systems. The derailment also catalyzed an activist investor campaign by Ancora Holdings that successfully pushed for management changes and operational improvements at NS in 2024. ### Which commodities drive Norfolk Southern's revenue and how does the eastern US network serve manufacturing? Norfolk Southern's network connects the industrial eastern US — the Great Lakes manufacturing region, Appalachian coal fields, southeastern automotive plants, and Atlantic ports — with freight mix including intermodal containers (the largest revenue segment), coal (declining but still significant for power generation and export), automotive parts and finished vehicles, chemicals, forest products, and steel. Norfolk Southern's access to major ports in Norfolk (Virginia), Baltimore, and Charleston positions it as a critical link in supply chains for international trade moving through Atlantic and Gulf Coast gateways. The automotive manufacturing corridor in Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, and South Carolina relies heavily on NS rail for parts delivery and finished vehicle distribution. ### How does Norfolk Southern's operating ratio compare to peers and what improvement efforts are underway? Norfolk Southern historically operated at higher operating ratios (operating expenses as a percentage of revenue) than western Class I peers like Union Pacific and BNSF, typically in the low-to-mid 60% range versus the high 50s for best-in-class western railroads. Following the East Palestine derailment and associated Ancora Holdings activist campaign in 2024, Norfolk Southern committed to operating ratio improvement through service reliability investments, network optimization, and Precision Scheduled Railroading principles. New leadership installed in 2024 after Ancora's successful campaign has prioritized operating efficiency improvements while addressing safety investment commitments that NS made in the aftermath of the East Palestine incident. ## Tags b2b, manufacturing, transportation, public, global, fortune500, enterprise --- *Data from geo.sig.ai Brand Intelligence Database. Updated 2026-04-14.*