ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern President Alan Shaw spent his first two days as CEO visiting railroaders across the system and vowing to restore service to normal levels.
On Sunday, when he added chief executive to his title as president, Shaw headed to DeButts Yard in Chattanooga, Tenn., where he spent time in the main tower, crew rooms, and diesel shop.
“It’s important to me to show my appreciation for our operations team, which works 24/7 to make Norfolk Southern better, and serves our customers,” Shaw says in a video shot at DeButts. “So on my first day as chief executive officer of Norfolk Southern I wanted to be out in the field. At Chattanooga, crews are tight just like many areas on our network, and they’re particularly tight on the weekend. So I came out on Sunday and I thanked the crews who were showing up to serve our customers. And it’s my commitment to put the resources in place to help us be successful.”
On Monday he hopscotched around the system. He started the day at Conneaut Yard in Ohio, then brought breakfast sandwiches to the R-3 rail gang in Ashtabula, Ohio, before heading to the railroad’s busiest hump yard, Elkhart Yard in Indiana. Shaw then visited railroaders in Roanoke, Va.
Shaw said he wants to learn from front-line employees.
“I got a lot of positive feedback on what we’re doing well. And I also got a lot of constructive feedback from employees on what we can do better,” Shaw says. “The immediate near term priority for us is restoring service to the level that our customers deserve and expect and allows them to compete and grow.”
Shaw outlined his priorities for the railroad in a letter to employees on Monday. The railroad is accelerating development of its new Thoroughbred Operating Plan | Service, Productivity, Growth, or TOP | SPG, and is hiring conductors to ease crew shortages.
He emphasized the need for NS to be customer-centric and driven by operations so that it can provide safe and reliable service and convert freight from highway to rail. “Service is the only product we manufacture and the only product we sell,” Shaw wrote.
NS service has suffered since last fall amid higher than usual attrition among its train crews. The railroad has struggled to hire new conductors, particularly in a dozen terminals where the railroad is particularly short of crews.
In March, on-time delivery of merchandise cars was just 34%, well below the railroad’s goal of 65%, while 54% of intermodal shipments were available on time vs. a goal of 84%.
Share this article
