Norfolk Southern expands short line interchange improvement program
After small railroad volume growth outperformed the Class I, Norfolk Southern is expanding an interchange program to more than 260 shortline partners. The post Norfolk Southern expands short line interchange improvement program appeared first on FreightWaves.
Norfolk Southern has expanded its interchange improvement program to all of its shortline connections in a bid to boost carload volume growth.
NS (NYSE: NSC) sought to improve interchange consistency and reliability when it launched its Short Line Performance Project with 40 short lines last year. “It led to just absolutely above-normal growth for us,” said Stefan Loeb, the railroad’s vice president of business development and first- and final-mile markets, in a company video. “So as an example, those 40 interchanges through 2024 grew at 4.85% volume. It outperformed our general business in those same markets.”
Last year NS’ overall merchandise business was up 1%.
The Short Line Interchange Project, as it’s now called, has been rolled out to all of the railroad’s 260-plus shortline partners, NS announced Wednesday. The program creates real-time data and communication channels so that NS and short lines can quickly iron out — or prevent — service problems.
“It’s about collaboration to be able to sit around the table and exchange ideas and use data to determine what ideas move forward and then make a commitment to act on them,” said Ryan Higgins, chief commercial officer at shortline holding company OmniTRAX, also in the video.
Tim Schumm, general manager of OmniTRAX’s Alabama & Tennessee River Railway, in the video said the program provides accurate data on interchanges with NS. “It also lets us resolve any problems quickly. Instead of waiting a day or a week to have the problem resolved, we could literally do it in hours.”
About 40% of Norfolk Southern’s carload volume originates or terminates on a connecting shortline railroad.
Caption: Norfolk Southern local train H76, led by SD40-2 No. 3423, clears the Lehigh Line main in Three Bridges, New Jersey, with a delivery to the Black River & Western interchange on Aug 6, 2021. (Photo: Jerry Dziedzic)
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