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On Friday, Norfolk Southern Corp. and GE Transportation co-sponsored their first “Railroad Sustainability Symposium” at GE's John F. Welch Learning Center in Ossining, N.Y. More than 50 U.S. and international rail industry leaders and sustainability experts attended the inaugural event to share insights into how sustainability can be incorporated into core business strategies and overall performance, according to NS.

The symposium is designed to facilitate an exchange of ideas and best practices in sustainability. Topics covered at the event included best practices in carbon, energy, and water management; ways to leverage sustainability to increase profitability, efficiency and business value; and how to effectively communicate a sustainability message to customers, employees and the public. GE and NS plan to hold the event annually.

“This symposium is a great opportunity to learn how to better measure and communicate the environmental impact of rail operations in order to take our sustainability efforts to an even higher level,” said Blair Wimbush, NS’ vice president real estate and corporate sustainability officer, in a prepared statement.

Added GE Ecomagination Leader Pete Lawson: “With domestic and global railroads, industry influencers and sustainability thought leaders in attendance, this is an ideal forum to have a candid dialogue on where the industry is from a sustainability perspective, where it can be and what it takes to get there.”

Meanwhile, CSX Corp. on Friday announced it’s been added to the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI) in recognition of its leadership in creating and adopting sustainable practices. A partnership between the Dow Jones Indexes and SAM Sustainability Assessments, the DJSI are global and regional indexes that track the financial performance of leading sustainability-driven companies.

CSX’s environmental performance accomplishments include reaching a voluntary greenhouse-gas emission reduction goal of 8 percent ahead of schedule and launching a “Trees for Tracks” program that calls for planting one tree for each of the 21,000 miles of track in the Class I’s network.

“Transparency and accountability are critical to our business strategy, and being named to this prestigious index highlights our dedication to long-term sustainable performance,” said CSX Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Ward in a prepared statement.