NORFOLK SOUTHERN CORP

This company is a Norfolk, Virginia-based firm and one of the premier transportation companies in the United States. Its Norfolk Southern Railway subsidiary operates approximately 21,000 route miles in 22 eastern states, the District of Columbia and Ontario, Canada, serving all major eastern ports in the United States and connects with rail partners in the west and Canada, linking customers to markets around the world. The company provides comprehensive logistics services and offers the most extensive intermodal network in the east. Intermodal shipments involve the transportation of shipping containers or truck trailers by rail. The company divides its intermodal business into four groups: international, premium, domestic and triple crown. International traffic is generated from a large number of Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports served by the company, as well as interline mini-land-bridge Pacific trade business generated through the West Coast ports. Premium is the most demanding segment in terms of service, and customers in this group include United Parcel Service, United States Postal Service and select less-than-truckload (LTL) carriers. In the domestic segment, its customers include JB Hunt, Hub Group, Schneider National, USXpress and other truckload motor carriers and intermodal marketing companies (IMCs). Triple Crown Services (TCS) provides high quality, retail, door-to-door intermodal services that directly compete with over-the-road motor carriers in medium-haul lanes as well as select long-haul lanes. The company is the largest rail shipper of automotive products in North America and 13 of the last 22 assembly plants to locate in the United States have chosen the company to be their serving carrier. It serves 29 auto assembly plants, 35 auto distribution terminals, three just-in-time (JIT) rail centers, and four vehicle mixing centers strategically positioned throughout its network. The company transports auto parts to assembly plants and after-market distribution centers and delivers finished vehicles to market. It also transports coal, industrial products, and paper, clay and forest products. The company is one of the nation's largest transporters of coal for utilities, steel producers, and industrial users and for export to countries around the world. Its industrial product service includes agriculture, chemicals, metals, government and machinery, and short line, as well as paper, clay and forest products. In paper, clay and forest, the company markets the transportation of commodities used in the paper and forest products transportation supply chain. These commodities include kaolin, wood chips, pulp and recycled paper, finished paper, printing paper, newsprint and pulp board. It serves more than 60 paper mills as well as more than 250 paper distribution centers, sawmills and panel facilities and handles various lumber products to reload centers and final delivery destinations. The company was created in 1982 by Norfolk & Western Railway and Southern Railway in a consolidation described in the news media as a model of its kind. It aims to be the safest, most customer focused and successful transportation company in the world. Its transportation operations, major mechanical shops and six other key business areas are registered to the ISO 9001:2000 standard, which requires the company to monitor and measure customer service satisfaction in addition to adoption of a continual improvement process.