Description
Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States, formed in 1982 by the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and the Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31,250 km) in 22 eastern states, the District of Columbia, and has rights in Canada over the Albany to Montréal route of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and previously on CN from Buffalo to St. Thomas. NS is responsible for maintaining 28,400 miles (45,700 km), with the remainder being operated under trackage rights from other parties responsible for maintenance. Intermodal containers and trailers are the most common commodity type carried by NS, which have grown as coal business has declined throughout the 21st century; coal was formerly the largest source of traffic. The railway offers the largest intermodal rail network in eastern North America. NS was also the pioneer of Roadrailer service. Norfolk Southern and its chief competitor, CSX Transportation, have a duopoly on the transcontinental freight rail lines in the Eastern United States.
NS has long been a major transporter of domestic and export coal, though this business has declined in the 21st century in favor of intermodal traffic. The railway's major sources of the mineral are located in Pennsylvania's Cambria and Indiana counties, as well as the Monongahela Valley; West Virginia; and the Appalachia regions of Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Coal transported by NS is thus exported to steel mills and power plants around the world.
Norfolk Southern is the namesake and leading subsidiary of the Norfolk Southern Corporation, based in Norfolk, Virginia. Norfolk Southern Corporation was incorporated in Virginia on July 23, 1980 and is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol NSC. The primary business function of Norfolk Southern Corporation is the rail transportation of raw materials, intermediate products, and finished goods across the Southeast, East, and Midwest United States. The corporation further facilitates transport to the remainder of the United States through interchange with other rail carriers while also serving overseas transport needs by serving several Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports. As of April 10, 2019, Norfolk Southern Corporation's total public stock value was slightly over $51.6 billion.
On December 12, 2018, Norfolk Southern announced that it would be relocating its headquarters to Atlanta, Georgia; leaving its hometown of Norfolk after 38 years. The new headquarters building was opened on November 10, 2021.
