Cover story:
NS pivots to exploit emerging economic trends
While the U.S. economy has roared back since COVID-19 struck, it isn’t business as usual in rail country. Consumer habits, supply-chain management and a host of other factors have changed, so goods are bought and delivered differently.
For example, retailers are holding more inventory and positioning goods closer to consumers, more manufacturing plants are being built or expanded in the United States than in recent years, and interest is increasing in reshoring.
Norfolk Southern Railway is trying to respond to the emerging economic trends. The Class I recently launched a site selection tool to enable interested parties to tap new or existing opportunities for developing rail-served facilities, and joined the state of Alabama in creating the A-USA Corridor that’s designed to speed the delivery of goods from the Gulf Coast to the Southeast.
Moreover, NS is striving hard on the environmental stewardship front because more than 25% of its customers have established public goals for carbon reduction and sustainability initiatives while analyzing their transportation choices.
To learn more about the railroad’s high-priority undertakings of late, Managing Editor Jeff Stagl holds court with Chief Marketing Officer Ed Elkins, Chief Sustainability Officer Josh Raglin, Vice President of Business Development and Real Estate Kathleen Smith, and Group Manager of Technical Services Ryan Hegarty.
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