Norfolk Southern Railway
- For The Railroad Industry Professional

Norfolk Southern Railway is one of North America's larger Class I railroads and a subsidiary of Norfolk Southern Corp. The railroad operates 20,000 route miles in 22 states and the District of Columbia, serves every major container port in the eastern United States and connects with other rail carriers. Norfolk Southern also operates an extensive intermodal network and is a major transporter of coal and industrial products.

Senior officers are Charles Moorman, chairman, president and chief executive officer; Deborah Butler, executive vice president planning and chief information officer; James Hixon, executive vice president law and corporate relations; Mark Manion, executive vice president operations and chief operating officer; John Rathbone, executive vice president and chief financial officer; Donald Seale, executive vice president and chief marketing officer; and James Squires, executive vice president administration.

The railroad operates 36,000 track miles. Its rolling stock consists of 4,143 owned and leased locomotives and 87,714 owned and leased freight cars. Norfolk Southern Corp. employed 30,329 people as of Dec. 31, 2011.

Norfolk Southern's major rail classification yards are in Allentown, Pa.; Atlanta; Baltimore; Bellevue, Ohio; Birmingham, Ala.; Buffalo, N.Y.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Chicago; Cincinnati; Cleveland; Columbus, Ohio; Conway, Pa.; Decatur, Ill.; Detroit; Enola, Pa.; Elkhart, Ind.; Fort Wayne, Ind.; Harrisburg, Pa.; Kansas City, Mo.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Linwood, N.C.; Louisville, Ky.; Macon, Ga.; New Orleans; Norfolk, Va.; Roanoke, Va.; Sheffield, Ala.; St. Louis; and Toledo, Ohio.

Norfolk Southern's facilities

The railroad's locomotive shops are at Juniata, Altoona, Pa.; Bellevue, Ohio; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Conway, Pa.; Enola, Pa.; Roanoke, Va.; Elkhart, Ind.; and Shaffers Crossing, Roanoke, Va. In Atlanta, Norfolk Southern Railway houses a center for operations and service support, crew management, eastern, northern and western regions' corporate offices, national customer service, and police communications. Located in McDonough, Ga., is the Norfolk Southern Railway training center; and in Norfolk, Va., is the Lamberts Point coal transload facility.

In 2011, Norfolk Southern's railway operating revenue was $11.2 billion, operating income was $3.2 billion and net income was $1.9 billion. The railroad's principal sources of operating revenue were coal, coke and iron ore, 31 percent; intermodal, 19 percent; agriculture, fertilizer and consumer products, 13 percent; chemicals, 12 percent; metals and construction, 11 percent; automotive, 7 percent; and paper, clay and forest products, 7 percent.

Norfolk Southern's other subsidiaries are Lambert's Point Docks Inc., Pocahontas Land Corp., T-Cubed, Thoroughbred Direct Intermodal Services, Thoroughbred Mechanical Services, Transworks, and Triple Crown Services.

The railroad is the product of hundreds of railroad companies that consolidated into what is now Norfolk Southern. In its current form, Norfolk Southern resulted from the consolidation of Southern Railway and Norfolk and Western Railway in 1982, and the acquisition of a portion of Conrail in 1999.

To mark its 30th anniversary in 2012, Norfolk Southern painted 18 new locomotives in commemorative schemes that reflect the heritage of its predecessor railroads.