Norfolk Southern Railway - Major Businesses

Major Businesses

The railroad is a major transporter of domestic and export coal in the eastern half of the country. The railroad's major sources of the mineral are located in: Pennsylvania's Cambria County, Indiana County, and the Monongahela Valley; West Virginia; and the Appalachia regions of Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. In Pennsylvania, NS also receives coal through interchange with R.J. Corman Railroad/Pennsylvania Lines at Cresson, Pennsylvania, originating in the so-called "Clearfield Cluster".

Norfolk Southern's export of West Virginia bituminous coal, begins transport on portions of the well-engineered former Virginian Railway and the famous former Norfolk and Western's double-tracked line in Eastern Virginia to its Lambert's Point coal pier on Hampton Roads at Norfolk, Virginia. Coal transported by NS is thus exported to steel mills and power plants around the world. The company is also a major transporter of auto parts and completed vehicles. It operates intermodal container and TOFC (trailer on flat car) trains, some in conjunction with other railroads. NS was the first railway to employ roadrailers, which are highway truck trailers with interchangeable wheel sets.

According to NS’s 2003 Annual Report to Investors, at the end of 2003, NS had more than 28,160 employees, 3,468 locomotives, and 101,095 freight cars.

At the end of 2003, the transport of coal, coke and iron ore made up 23% of the total amount of traffic hauled by NS. Intermodal containers made up 19% of the total; autoracks 14%; chemical tankers 12%; metals, construction materials, agriculture commodities, and consumer products 11%; paper, clay, and forest products 10%.