NORFOLK, Va., Jan. 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) announced today that in 2020 the company assisted 86 businesses in locating new or expanded facilities on its freight rail network. The industries ranged from a medical products supplier and roofing shingle manufacturer to automakers and paper packaging producers.

Across 18 states, Norfolk Southern customers invested $1.8 billion to open 70 new and 16 expanded rail-served facilities. The industrial development is expected to create more than 2,960 customer jobs and generate over 54,300 carloads of new rail volume annually for Norfolk Southern.

"Despite the impacts of COVID-19, rail-served industrial development in our service area remained steady overall throughout 2020," said Kathleen Smith, vice president business development and real estate. "Norfolk Southern worked closely with customers to help them grow and meet their supply chain needs. We have a solid pipeline of business development opportunity in 2021 and beyond across our automotive and industrial product markets."

Carload growth associated with the opening of new or expanded facilities in 2020 came from a diverse mix of business sectors. Among the largest development projects were a medical products production facility in Linwood, North Carolina; a paper packaging products plant in Palmyra, Pennsylvania;  a roofing shingle manufacturing facility in Avery, Ohio; a grain-related expansion in Portage, Indiana; a steel-mill expansion in Calvert, Alabama; and automotive-related projects in Tennessee, Alabama, West Virginia, Georgia, and Pennsylvania.

Supporting jobs and economic growth for communities, Norfolk Southern collaborates with customers and state and local economic development leaders to identify rail-served sites and to develop infrastructure that connects industrial development projects to its rail network. The railroad's Industrial Development Department provides free and confidential facility-location services, including industrial park planning, site layout, track design, and supply-chain and sustainability analysis.

"Our railroad is committed to providing efficient service that is also environmentally sustainable," said Chris Ingraham, group vice president industrial development. "Norfolk Southern offers a lower-carbon alternative to shipping goods over the road. By converting more of their shipments to rail, businesses can lower their supply-chain carbon footprint and contribute to the nation's environmental goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions."

Over the past decade, Norfolk Southern has worked alongside customers and communities to support the location of 872 new or expanded facilities representing $58 billion in private investment and the creation of over 39,700 new customer jobs.

About Norfolk Southern
Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC) is one of the nation's premier transportation companies. Its Norfolk Southern Railway Company subsidiary operates approximately 19,300 route miles in 22 states and the District of Columbia, serves every major container port in the eastern United States, and provides efficient connections to other rail carriers. Norfolk Southern is a major transporter of industrial products, including agriculture, forest and consumer products, chemicals, and metals and construction materials. In addition, the railroad operates the most extensive intermodal network in the East and is a principal carrier of coal, automobiles, and automotive parts.

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SOURCE Norfolk Southern Corporation