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Norfolk Southern Corp. yesterday announced it earned a 2012 National Achievement Award from the Transportation Community Awareness and Emergency Response (TRANSCAER®) program, the 13th time the Class I has received the honor.

The award recognizes NS' efforts to help communities prepare for and respond to potential hazardous materials transportation incidents. In addition, Bill Oertly, NS' hazardous materials compliance officer in Roanoke, Va., won TRANSCAER's Torch Award for lifetime achievement.

"Norfolk Southern and its employees are unparalleled in their commitment to providing training to support first responders from across our rail network," said David Julian, NS' vice president of safety and environmental, in a press release.

The railroad helps train fire and police departments and rescue and emergency medical organizations about rail safety precautions, railroad operations, initial-response procedures and rail equipment via classroom training, hands-on activities, table-top exercises and full-scale drills that simulate an emergency response.

Last year, NS provided more than 19,000 hours of rail accident response training to more than 5,000 emergency responders. NS also conducted railroad operations classes for FBI agents and railroad liaison agents from the National Joint Terrorism Task Force operated by the FBI, and participated in four drills for local, state, and federal agencies.

In addition, the Class I sponsors emergency responders to attend training courses at the Transportation Technology Center Inc.'s Security and Emergency Response Training Center in Pueblo, Colo.

For a full list of TRANSCAER award winners, click on this link.