Norfolk Southern advancing safety

Norfolk Southern Corporation released a 2024 Midyear Safety Report, highlighting substantial advancements to enhance railroad safety. Norfolk Southern is committed to keeping our employees and communities safe. Our progress to become the gold standard of safety is the direct result of engaging employees, safety advisors, customers and communities — all to further the company's safety culture.

"When we make a promise, we deliver on that promise," said Alan H. Shaw, president and CEO of Norfolk Southern. "That started with our Six-Point Safety Plan announced last spring and progress has continued in 2024. Norfolk Southern has maintained our positive safety momentum into 2024 with year-to-date improvement across all our core safety metrics."

Claude Mongeau, chair of the Norfolk Southern Board of Directors, added comments to the company's ongoing efforts: "Safety is priority number one at Norfolk Southern. We're grateful to everyone who has contributed to our continuous improvement to ensure that Norfolk Southern remains a strong, sustainable and safe company for years to come."

Safety culture is about vigilance and continuous improvement and Norfolk Southern has worked hard to put that philosophy into action. This report reaffirms the company's commitment to setting the highest standards in safety and operational excellence. Key highlights from the 2024 Midyear Safety Report include:

Company-Wide Actions

• Installing 187 out of a planned 259 hot bearing detector systems
• Launching three digital train inspection portals featuring machine learning vision inspection technology, with a goal of having 20 systems operational by the end of 2026
• Deploying 17 new acoustic bearing detectors, significantly expanding our safety technology network

Significant Safety Achievements

• Reducing the number of mainline accidents by 30% in 2023, placing us among the best of the Class I railroads
• Bringing our FRA Personal Injury Index down from 1.51 in 2020 to 1.09 in 2023, almost 14% lower than the 10-year average
• Lowering employee accidents by 28% since 2020

Strong Union Collaboration

• Joining forces with leaders of 12 labor unions to express a joint commitment to safety; leading to initiatives like the Signal Safety Collaboration program, aimed at enhancing signal safety for employees and communities
• Ordering over 2,300 Kenwood and Icom model antennas, which can be fitted to existing hand-held radios to help crew members communicate critical information more clearly
• Introducing the "Walk with a Purpose" program, providing work boot vouchers to all employees and fulfilling orders for nearly 40% of the total workforce within the first two weeks of its launch