Norfolk Southern replaced more rail in 2023 than in any year since 1990

ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern replaced 556 miles of rail last year, the highest tally since 1990, the railroad said today.

NS’s capital production gangs broke productivity records by laying 35 more track miles of rail than in 2022, while using the same number of rail installation teams.

“The Norfolk Southern Engineering Department truly came together as one team in 2023 to achieve these outstanding results that enhanced our infrastructure system wide,” Ed Boyle, vice president of engineering, said in a statement today (Feb. 7, 2024). “These record accomplishments were made possible through extensive planning, coordination, communication, and teamwork.”

Over the past year, the railroad’s capital production gangs achieved the following results:

• 619 total track miles of rail work was completed, 49 miles more than in 2022.
• The R3 Dual Rail Gang laid 310 track miles, the highest amount on record.
• The R4 and R5 Super Single Rail Gangs completed 181 track miles.
• The R1, R2, R8, and R12 Curve Rail Gangs completed 127 track miles.
• A total of 2,562 miles of track were Tied & Surfaced.
• 2,099,502 rail ties were installed.
• An additional 1,745 miles of track were surfaced.

“Our Engineering team worked collaboratively with the Network Operations Center and Transportation in a true Team of Teams effort to safely deliver a very successful year,” said Paul Duncan, Chief Operating Officer. “We look forward to achieving even greater results in the coming year.”

The capital production gang teams include:

• The R3 Dual Rail Gang is the largest production gang and the only rail laying team in the industry that installs both rails simultaneously. This operation lays over 300 track miles of rail per year.
• The two Super Single Rail Gangs, R4 & R5, handle shorter rail replacement jobs that cannot be efficiently performed by R3. They replace 180 track miles of rail annually.
• The four Single Side Rail Gangs replace over 100 track miles of targeted curve rail annually.
• The six Super, two Yard, and three Regional Timber and Surfacing (T&S) gangs replace a total of 2.25 million cross ties annually. The 11 T&S gangs install crossties and surface the track system wide. The six Super gangs focus on the mainline and sidings and the five smaller teams work yard tracks and industry tracks.
• The two Surfacing Gangs, S2 & S6, and surfacing teams embedded in the rail gangs maintain track stability by tamping/surfacing nearly 2,000 miles annually.