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6/18/2024
Norfolk Southern Railway yesterday released a 2024 midyear safety report that outlines the company's actions to improve railroad safety and its safety culture.
"When we make a promise, we deliver on that promise," said NS President and CEO Alan Shaw in a press release. "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."
Highlights from the midyear 2024 report include:• 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; and• deploying 17 new acoustic bearing detectors.
The railroad's "significant" safety achievements include:• reducing the number of mainline accidents by 30% in 2023;•bringing the railroad's FRA personal injury index down from 1.51 in 2020 to 1.09 in 2023, almost 14% lower than the 10-year average; and• lowering employee accidents by 28% since 2020.
The report also reviews the company's collaboration with unions to advance safety this year, including ordering more than 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. To read the full report, click here.