NS' Shaw to receive 2023 Railroad Innovator Award

Progressive Railroading and RailTrends^® have named Norfolk Southern Corp. President and CEO Alan Shaw the 2023 recipient of the Railroad Innovator Award, which recognizes an individual's outstanding achievement in the rail industry.

Shaw has served as NS’ CEO since May 2022 and president since December 2021. He’s held various positions since joining the railroad in 1994, including executive vice president and chief marketing officer, VP of intermodal operations, group VP-chemicals, group VP-coal transportation services and director-coal transportation services.

"After seeing Alan at Norfolk Southern’s investor day this past December, I instantly thought of the Railroad Innovator Award," says transportation analyst Tony Hatch, who is the program consultant for the annual RailTrends conference. "He talked about managing through a cycle and thinking longer term — a more balanced approach to service, productivity and growth. It's a re-righting of the ship after the pendulum swung too far for those who might have only considered PSR, for example, in a cost-cutting context. Alan’s looking ahead. Other rail leaders are, too, but he was the first CEO to crystallize it."

The new NS approach calls for the railroad to make decisions in the best long-term interest of a broader range of stakeholders, notably the railroad’s employees and customers, as well as the communities it serves. And since the Feb. 3 derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, NS has been making decisions in the best long-term interests of the community’s residents.

So far, NS has invested millions in East Palestine’s recovery. Three-hundred NS employees and contractors work on recovery activities daily. Shaw himself returns weekly. 

"The people want to know we’re going to be there," Shaw told North American Rail Shippers (NARS) annual conference attendees last month.

For NS, being there means zeroing in on zero tolerance for safety failure. It means doing the right thing, and the next right thing, every day, for the people of East Palestine, Shaw said.

"From articulating his vision of what a better way looks like going forward to the NS response in East Palestine to the commitment to doing the next right thing, Shaw continues to demonstrate he and his team are charting a different course," says Progressive Railroading Editor Pat Foran. 

Progressive Railroading and RailTrends previously presented Railroad Innovator Awards to such railroad leaders as Watco’s Rick Webb, CN's JJ Ruest, CSX's Jim Foote, Kansas City Southern's Pat Ottensmeyer, Association of American Railroads' Ed Hamberger, Genesee & Wyoming Inc.'s Jack Hellmann, CN's Claude Mongeau, CSX's Michael Ward, Canadian Pacific's Keith Creel, Norfolk Southern Corp.'s Wick Moorman, Union Pacific Corp.'s Jim Young, KCS's Mike Haverty, BNSF Railway Co.'s Matt Rose and CN's Hunter Harrison.

Shaw will receive the award during RailTrends 2023, which will be held Nov. 16-17 at the New York Marriott Marquis in New York City. For more information about the event, log onto RailTrends.com.