Norfolk Southern craftworkers on eco engine

POLICY PRIORITIES TO KEEP FREIGHT RAIL MOVING AMERICA

As the safest way to move freight over land, Norfolk Southern and other freight railroads help America prosper, investing billions of dollars each year to provide a safe, cost-effective, and sustainable transportation solution

WHERE WE STAND

Ensure rail is a strong link in the nation’s supply chain

Balanced Regulation

America’s freight rail industry is the world’s safest, most efficient, and cost effective. That’s due largely to a balanced government regulatory structure that supports investments by railroads to keep our country competitive in the global marketplace. From 1980 to 2022, U.S. railroads invested some $780 billion – roughly $2,400 per person in America – on the nation’s rail network and on developing advanced technologies that enhance safety and service for customers.

Learn more from AAR
Shipping containers in rail yard Industry Balanced Regulation

Safety Regulation

At Norfolk Southern, we define operational excellence as safely delivering reliable and resilient service to our customers. Everything we do starts with safety, and it goes hand-in-hand with service. Railroad operations are subject to strict safety oversight by the Federal Railroad Administration and other federal agencies. NS and our Class I peers are dedicated to adopting leading-edge technologies for safety and service, and they advocate for a modern, performance-based regulatory framework that encourages innovation and sets operational goals based on data. Prescriptive regulations are outdated and can hinder safety progress.

Safety First at NS

Economic Regulation

Freight railroads support a continuation of existing balanced regulatory policies that flowed from the 1980 Staggers Act, which partially deregulated the rail industry. Today’s economic regulatory framework, overseen by the Surface Transporation Board, is based on sound economics and market-based competition. It allows railroads to make the investments needed to remain the world’s safest and most efficient freight rail system and meet customer demand. STB policies should encourage this reinvestment, not deter it.

Learn more from the AAR

Investments in technology

Enhancing Safety and Increasing Efficiencies for the U.S. Freight Transportation Network 

Norfolk Southern and other Class I railroads are investing millions of dollars in advanced technologies to enhance safety and better serve customers. NS led the industry in developing and deploying the first automated track inspection system mounted on a locomotive, enabling us to monitor track geometry conditions at track speed under full load. We also are developing train inspection corridors across our network that use machine vision, deep-learning algorithms, and other technologies to spot potential railcar defects. We believe the FRA should adopt forward-looking policies that encourage more investment in rail safety innovations and the development of technologies that promote safety and operating efficiencies in the U.S. freight rail transportation network.  

More about industry technology Learn about tech at NS
Norfolk Southern technology investments

OPERATING SAFELY IN YOUR COMMUNITY

SAFE TRACKS, SAFE TOWNS

At Norfolk Southern, everything starts with safety. Our employees live, work, and play in the communities we serve, and we care deeply about keeping our hometowns safe and thriving. We put our money where our mouth is – in 2022, we invested $1.9 billion to promote safe and efficient operations, modernize technology, and support economic growth across our network. That included installing over 540 track miles of new rail, surfacing 4,155 miles of track, and replacing 2.2 million crossties. Our industry-leading Engineering team takes pride in what they do to ensure we safely serve our customers and communities.

Explore Safety

Backbone of tomorrow’s digital railroad 

Positive Train Control

Positive train control, or PTC, is part of a strategic approach by the industry to make a safe rail system even safer. PTC is a system of technologies designed to prevent certain accidents related to human error – such as train-to-train collisions or overspeed derailments. PTC systems determine the precise location, direction, and speed of trains, warn train operators of potential problems, and safely slow and stop the train if the operator does not act.

Learn more from the AAR
The New York Times -

A PTC system consists of three main elements, integrated by a wireless communications network:

 

  • An Onboard System monitors a train’s position and speed and activates braking as necessary to enforce speed restrictions and unauthorized train movement into new sections of track.

  • A Wayside System monitors track signals, switches, and track circuits to communicate authorization for movement to the locomotive.

  • A Back Office Server stores all information related to the rail network and trains operating across it – such as speed limits, speed of individual locomotives, and train composition – and transmits the authorization for individual trains to move into new segments of track.

The federal Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 mandated PTC for rail lines that transport certain hazardous materials or host regularly scheduled commuter or passenger rail service. Norfolk Southern invested over $1.8 billion to develop and implement PTC. To implement PTC, we:

 

  • Installed 11,207 pieces of required wayside hardware, including antennas, radios and WIUs.

  • Equipped locomotives with 5,800 pieces of required onboard PTC hardware.

  • Tested over 20,500 scenarios of PTC states and functions with more than 180 software iterations to validate the system against requirements.

 

During daily use, more than half a billion message transactions are generated to keep the system operable and reliable. 

 

Since implementation, NS has integrated onboard locomotive energy management systems into our PTC network, advancing efforts to increase fuel efficiency and reduce emissions. Our team continues to search for innovative ways to leverage PTC as part of ongoing efforts to enhance safety, increase network capacity, and improve customer service.