Billions Made, Thousands Laid Off //
Class I RRs are giant conglomerates focused on profits, cutting corners, and nothing else. Our system promotes and rewards this, as lobbyist work hard molding politicians at the cost of sense and sanity.
Headquartered in Atlanta since 2021, railway has been in operation since 1982 as NS, though it’s earliest predecessor line was the South Carolina Canal & RR, chartered in 1827!
In 2019, Norfolk Southern made a plan to lay off over 3,500 workers as a result of precision railroading. Since 2019, a labor dispute between Norfolk Southern Railways and railway workers has been underway. In September 2022, the workers and companies involved tentatively agreed to a deal, but it was rejected by a majority of the union's members. In late 2022, the United States Congress intervened to prevent a strike by passing the tentative deal into law.
On February 3, 2023, a freight train carrying vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, ethylhexyl acrylate and ethylene glycol monobutyl ether derailed along the Norfolk Southern Railway in East Palestine, OH. Norfolk Southern, along with other rail companies, had successfully lobbied for the repeal of rules requiring electronically controlled pneumatic brakes on trains carrying hazardous materials, which could have reduced the severity of the incident.
Norfolk Southern Railway offered $1,000 payments to locals in order to "cover costs related to the evacuation". Some residents expressed concerns that taking these payouts would limit their ability to join future legal actions. In the aftermath of the disaster, the company was accused of prioritizing $10 billion in stock buybacks for shareholders over maintenance.
