ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern is working to hire conductors to fill its depleted crew ranks in key areas of the system, railroad President Alan Shaw has told federal regulators.
“We recognize our current service levels do not meet our customers’ or our expectations. We also understand the critical role we play in supporting our customers’ business plans and the national economy,” Shaw wrote in a Friday letter to STB Chairman Martin J. Oberman that was posted to the agency’s website today. “We are in business to provide an efficient, reliable transportation service and we are highly motivated to restore the level of service our customers expect and handle higher volumes of their freight.”
Oberman wrote to NS CEO Jim Squires on Nov. 23, asking him to explain the railroad’s deteriorating performance metrics and rising number of shipper complaints [see “Federal regulators ask Norfolk Southern …,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 23, 2021]. Shaw was named NS president on Dec. 3 and will assume the CEO role on May 1.
“Norfolk Southern is currently experiencing meaningful workforce shortfalls in critical portions of our network. These shortfalls are primarily concentrated in Birmingham, Ala., in our CNO&TP corridor between Cincinnati, Ohio and Chattanooga, Tenn., and along a portion of our Southern Tier line between Buffalo and Binghamton, N.Y.,” Shaw wrote.
“We have suffered unexpectedly high rates of attrition in these areas, which spiked during late September and October. These attrition rates have been compounded by hiring challenges, as the entire transportation industry, along with other sectors of the economy, face an unusually tight and rapidly evolving labor market.
“As a result of these workforce challenges, we are facing yard congestion in Birmingham and Chattanooga and slower train flows over both the CNO&TP and the Southern Tier. The strains we are experiencing in these areas have created collateral impacts in other parts of the network,” he wrote.
NS made progress whittling down congestion at its classification yards in Birmingham and Chattanooga, as well as on its CNO&TP main line over the Thanksgiving holiday, when volume traditionally declines.
“We have not yet made similar progress on the Southern Tier but our efforts there, and throughout the challenged portions of our network, continue,” Shaw wrote.
The railroad’s average train speed fell to 16.9 mph in November, a multiyear low that was down from 19.4 mph in October and 21.1 mph in September. Average train speed for the week ending Dec. 3 rebounded to 18.9 mph, according to data reported to the STB.
Dwell rose to an average of 28 hours in November, up from 23.6 in October and 22.1 in September. As of the week ending Dec. 3, dwell had improved to 27 hours.
The average number of trains holding per day has fallen but remains stubbornly high at 62, and the number of cars that have not moved in 48 hours also remains elevated.
NS had 285 people in conductor training as of Dec. 6, up from 114 in June. The railroad expects to increase the number of people in the conductor trainee pipeline between now and the end of March, Shaw wrote.
NS has identified 939 conductor trainee candidates, he wrote, and is offering retention bonuses to current train and engine crews as well as prospective employees.
“In short, we are doing whatever we can to meet the challenges presented by high attrition and a tight labor market to put in place the resources we need to serve our customers,” Shaw wrote.
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