NS sees heavy-duty business opportunities in renewable energy industry, AI data centers
1/9/2026
By Julie Sneider, Senior Editor
When Norfolk Southern Railway in 2024 transported nearly 160 massive wind turbine components for global wind energy manufacturer Vestas from Colorado to North Carolina, the project represented the logistics and operational collaboration necessary to safely move oversized, heavy machinery and equipment used by the clean energy industry.
The project also underscored the role freight railroads play in enabling the development of alternative and clean energy projects on a larger scale, NS officials say. The equipment was moved from one of Vestas’ plants in Colorado to the Timbermill Wind farm, a 1,933-acre renewable energy project in Chowan County, North Carolina. When completed, the wind farm will house 45 turbines generating enough energy to power the equivalent of 47,000 homes.
The rail route to transport the components to Timbermill crossed 10 states and 2,000 miles. NS coordinated with the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) and two short lines to transport the nacelles, which are the large boxes on top of wind towers that house the machinery that converts wind’s kinetic energy into electricity.
Vestas manufactures nacelles at its plant in Brighton, Colorado, and wind turbine blades in Windsor, Colorado. Every 24 hours, wind generates enough kinetic energy to produce 35 times more electricity than is used each day, according to Vestas.
“We call these dimensional or high-wide shipments, things that are either too wide or two high for a standard rail car or are over 286,000 pounds,” says Bernie Williams, NS’ group vice president of industrial products. “Essentially, most of these are project-based shipments, so they take a lot of coordination between internal and external stakeholders to verify that the move can be done safely and efficiently.”
Once a customer proposes a dimensional shipment via the railroad, a lot of planning goes into making the move happen. In the case of the Vestas project, NS’ metals, construction and engineering teams worked with the railroad’s Network Operations Center (NOC) to determine how the move would play out.
“Most of these are project-based shipments, so they take a lot of coordination between internal and external stakeholders to verify that the move can be done safely and efficiently.” — Bernie Williams, Norfolk Southern RailwayNorfolk Southern RailwayIn such projects, the NS team starts the process by mapping the route using lidar technology, then feeds the data into an internal digital profile for clearance verification. When the train is ready to roll toward its destination, coordination with the NOC — which dispatches and monitors trains across the network — is key, says Williams.
“Obviously, you don’t want to move a wide shipment that could strike another train,” he says. “So, special handling on these shipments is necessary to ensure we’re doing this in a safe manner.”
Some wide-high dimensional shipments can move on a regular train route, while others — like the Vestas project — require a custom-built route to ensure safety. Sometimes those special routes require a less-direct journey to the load’s final destination, Williams says.
"Due to bridges, vertical clearances or anything that's obstructing the path of a large shipment — or if the right-of-way is too narrow or short — then you have to find a different route that works for the project,” he explains.
For example, once it reached Morehead City, the train transporting the Vestas wind mill turbine components ran on track between two segments of a state highway. Williams and his team coordinated with NCDOT crews to temporarily remove highway signage that would have obstructed the shipment’s path.
An opportunity goes nuclear
Another recent NS special train service required for clean-energy related cargo involved the transportation of three massive turbine rotors for the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in Georgia. In 2024, Georgia Power completed construction of two nuclear units at the Plant, the first such power units to be built in the United States in more than 30 years.
“Because each rotor is so big and heavy, we used a specialized rail car and moved each one within their own train service,” Williams explains. “We worked with our operations team, our customer and the NOC to develop the best solution based on the what the customer required and the individual dynamics and measurements of the shipment.”
The specialized rail cars NS uses for dimensional loads are a mix of privately owned units and the railroad’s own fleet of heavy-duty flat cars that can handle shipments up to a certain weight, according to Williams.
“We move a lot of transformers on those flats,” he adds. “We’ve seen the demand for transformers [to be moved by rail] go up tremendously in 2025 and even before that. A lot of that is powered by the clean energy boom. When you put in solar farms, when you put in wind farms, you must have transformers to step up and step down the voltage to get it on the grid.”
More business on track
Additionally, the recent buildout of AI data centers has helped boost demand for transformers to be moved by rail. NS’ transformer shipments rose about 30% over the past year as demand for the units continued to increase, Williams says. He doesn’t see the demand for large transformers, or the need for freight-rail service to move them, falling off anytime soon.
“First, you have an aging electrical grid infrastructure that needs replacement,” Williams says. “Then, you have the increase in clean energy, and the demand for electrical cars and homes. Lay on top of that the buildout of AI data centers and you see a bright future for electrical demand and that requires investment.”
An example of said brightness: In September 2025, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Hitachi Energy will invest $457 million to expand its power transformer plant in South Boston, Virginia. The new facility will produce large-scale industrial transformers, including for AI data centers. When completed, the Hitachi campus in Virginia will be the largest manufacturing site for large power transformers in the United States, according to a press release from Youngkin’s office. NS provides rail service to the campus.
And to be sure, Williams and the NS team will be ready with freight trains to transport those large-scale transformers and other high-wide shipments that are too big for trucks to move on the road.
