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March 2026
By Bridget Dean, Associate Editor
The League of Railway Women presented its 2025 Railway Woman of the Year award to Norfolk Southern Railway’s Assistant Vice President of Mechanical Dianne Barnett at the 2026 NRC Annual Conference and NRC-REMSA Exhibition held in Hollywood, Florida, on Jan. 10.
Co-sponsored by Progressive Railroading, the annual award honors a woman who brings excellence to her organization and community, all while supporting the personal and professional growth of others in the rail industry.
“Dianne’s ability to inspire those she leads, her unwavering commitment to safety and her passion for elevating the contributions of those around her set her apart,” said Denise Williams, LRW awards chair, in a press release. “She is not only deserving of this honor, but she also embodies the very spirit of progress and excellence we celebrate.”
Barnett, 51, is a second-generation railroader and has spent her 27-year rail career entirely at NS. From her first supervisory role to her most recent promotion to AVP of mechanical in October 2025, Barnett has established herself as a people-focused leader who values and uplifts everybody’s contributions, LRW officials said.
At NS, Barnett is responsible for rail-car and locomotive safety, reliability and maintenance. She oversees the car maintenance group, locomotive group and the wayside teams; her regular communication with boots-on-the-ground teams helps drive better decision making in the office, Barnett says. As the Class I pursues new technology, operating policies and procedures, she’s behind the scenes, pinpointing what NS needs to do to maximize return on investment and improve overall company performance, Barnett adds.
A recent example of Barnett’s work in action is the rollout of NS’ wheel integrity system. Under her leadership, NS developed a system that uses cameras to capture numerous images of wheels as trains pass by. Using an in-house developed algorithm, the system analyzes the images to detect defects in wheels that are difficult to catch during human inspections. NS began using the system in November 2025 and has plans to expand its use this year, according to the railroad’s website.
“I have an amazing team. They’re always thinking outside the box,” Barnett says. “We’ve been able to put together some really important innovations for the industry, so I’m extraordinarily proud of that.”
Barnett didn’t start her career with the goal of becoming an AVP or even being in the mechanical division. Initially, she was interested in becoming a train dispatcher. But when her father, a retired NS locomotive engineer, took her to an NS hiring event in Birmingham, Alabama, in August 1998, the company tapped her for an open role in the mechanical division as a stenographer clerk to transcribe investigations, she says.
Six months later, Barnett planned to transfer to the IT department, but a temporary freeze on transfers during NS’ 1999 acquisition of its share of Conrail left her in mechanical. After a resignation in the locomotive shop, NS officials asked Barnett to transition to a locomotive supervisor, and she’s been in the mechanical division since. Barnett threw herself into learning about locomotives and attended NS’ training school to take electrician, machinist and locomotive engineer courses alongside the company’s new hires.
“I [spent] a lot of time alongside our craft personnel trying to troubleshoot, understanding what they were doing, going on road trips so that I would be a more effective supervisor,” says Barnett. “I even came in some of my rest days.”
After finding success with her first supervisory role in Birmingham, Barnett never stopped moving and learning. She went on to be a locomotive supervisor in Tennessee and a senior general foreman in Ohio, Missouri and Georgia. By 2010, Barnett was the mechanical superintendent for NS’ Georgia division. Later, she served as division manager of mechanical operations in the Keystone and Coastal divisions, and in April 2023 she was named senior director of mechanical operations in the southern region.
By October 2023, she was promoted to senior director of mechanical operations and support. It was in that role she was given one of her most challenging assignments: improve resiliency at NS’ Lamberts Point coal terminal. Located along the Elizabeth River in Norfolk, Virginia, the site is the most efficient coal transload facility in the Northern Hemisphere, according to NS’ website. Lamberts Point was also showing signs of age, as the main pier has been in operation since 1962, and the facility had problems with unscheduled outages and equipment failures, Barnett says.
NS had plans to dump more coal at the facility, and the Class I needed to resolve those outage and productivity problems as traffic through the terminal ramped up, Barnett says. Her assignment was to identify failure points and find solutions.
When Barnett began the process in December 2023, she discovered that Lamberts Point employees were loosely tracking outages through an outdated paper document and spreadsheet-based system. Without a consistent or accurate account of failures, she wouldn’t be able to identify patterns across multiple outages or discern which equipment was causing problems, she said.
She implemented a coordinated and modern tracking system under which each department at the facility could report equipment failures and other issues contributing to the outages. This system gave her the data and oversight needed to pinpoint root causes of problems, she says.
Lamberts Point was a challenging assignment; the improvements and resulting boost in resiliency are among her proudest career achievements, she says. It also was her introduction to overseeing a coal facility. She relied heavily on the expertise of the site’s workforce, which doubled in size under her leadership. The front-line workers and supervisors who use the machinery and make decisions daily were best positioned to tell her where the site’s problems were, she says.
“I don’t have all the answers. I’m very quick to tell people that,” Barnett says, adding that she knows how to handle derailments and mechanical issues with rail cars and locomotives because she has worked with that equipment for over two decades. “But when I was given Lamberts Point, I had to just step outside of my comfort zone. I had to not be afraid to get in there and fail.”
Barnett had to mostly leave behind Lamberts Point when she was promoted to her current role as AVP of mechanical. Although she no longer directly oversees the facility, she developed tightknit bonds with the employees there and regularly keeps in touch, she says.
During an NS safety and leadership training session Barnett attended more than 15 years ago, she learned about the “shadow you cast” leadership model, which is the idea that people are impacted, sometimes unknowingly, by leaders’ attitudes, behaviors and actions. It stuck with her: She strives to bring a positive attitude to work each day and to look for the silver lining in every situation, Barnett says.
She’s both a realist and an optimist. Her teams, whether in the field or office, face challenges that can be exhausting. But Barnett always tries to maintain a positive mindset and encourages those around her to do so, as well. Sometimes, a reminder to look on the bright side is what people — herself included — need to get through a long day, she says.
That ability to model positivity — along with humility, unity and resiliency — was key to her being named the LRW 2025 Railway Woman of the Year, LRW officials said. To Barnett, the recognition also demonstrates how much her colleagues and mentors invested in her career, from NS’ executive leadership and her direct boss, all the way back to her first division manager in Birmingham.
That first manager advised her not to be afraid to assert herself around the people she supervised. That’s the same advice she now gives new railroaders, Barnett says.
“I was a shy 23-year-old that was working around a bunch of very gruff guys who could be a little cantankerous at times,” she recalls.
Barnett has been inspired by and is grateful for the women in rail who came before her. In particular, she admires Edwina Justus, the first Black woman to become a locomotive engineer in 1976 at Union Pacific Railroad, and Bonnie Leake, the first woman to become a locomotive engineer in 1974, also at UP, Barnett says.
She is proud to have built a career in the same industry her father built his. Likewise, she is proud of her role outside of her career.
“I’m a mother; I’m a wife,” she says. “[My daughter] reminds me every day of why I do what I do. I’m definitely proud to be her mom.”
Barnett believes she can serve as an example for other women who may not have thought it was possible to balance the demands of a rail career with having a family. The representation of women, including mothers, in the railroad industry is important, as having a diverse workforce is necessary for the industry to evolve and grow, she says.
“Progress in the rail industry means honoring the legacy of the railroad, while continuing to prepare for the future that’s ahead,” Barnett says. “That means making sure that we’re bringing in diverse voices, diverse thoughts and people from other industries who can come and propel our industry forward.”
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