the rail company that has existed since 1982 . for other uses see norfolk southern disambiguation . this article has multiple issues . please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . december 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message this article includes a list of references but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations . please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations . february 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message norfolk southern railway ns system map ; trackage rights in purple reporting mark ns locale eastern united states dates of operation 1982 1982 present predecessor norfolk & western railway southern railway conrail track gauge 4 ft 8 1 2 in 1 435 mm standard gauge length 21 500 miles 34 600 kilometres headquarters norfolk virginia website nscorp.com norfolk southern corporation ns headquarters building in norfolk virginia type public traded as nyse nsc industry transportation founded norfolk virginia usa july 23 1980 1980 07 23 headquarters norfolk virginia united states key people james a. squires chairman president & ceo revenue us 11.245 billion 2013 1 us 11.04 billion 2012 1 operating income us 3.257 billion 2013 1 us 3.124 billion 2012 1 net income us 1.91 billion 2013 1 us 1.749 billion 2012 1 total assets us 32.483 billion 2013 2 us 30.342 billion 2012 1 total equity us 11.289 billion 2013 2 us 9.76 billion 2012 1 number of employees 30 943 website nscorp.com ns building in atlanta georgia the norfolk southern railway reporting mark nsc is a class i railroad in the united states ; began in 1982 and 1990 . with headquarters in norfolk virginia the company operates 36 200 route miles in 22 eastern states the district of columbia 3 and has rights in canada from buffalo to toronto and over the albany to montreal route . 4 dubious discuss 5 ns is responsible for maintaining 29 000 miles with the remainder being operated under trackage rights from other parties responsible for maintenance . 6 the common commodity hauled on the railroad is coal from mines in indiana kentucky pennsylvania tennessee virginia and west virginia . the railroad also offers the most intermodal network in eastern north america . ns is a major transporter of domestic and export coal . the railroad s major sources of the mineral are located in pennsylvania s cambria and indiana counties as well as the monongahela valley ; west virginia ; and the appalachia regions of virginia kentucky and tennessee . in pennsylvania ns also receives coal through interchange with r.j. corman railroad pennsylvania lines at cresson pennsylvania originating in the clearfield cluster . ns s export of west virginia bituminous coal begins transport on portions of the well engineered former virginian railway and the former n & w double tracked line in eastern virginia to its lambert s point coal pier on hampton roads at norfolk . coal transported by ns is thus exported to steel mills and power plants around the world . the company is also a major transporter of auto parts and completed vehicles . it operates intermodal container and tofc trailer on flat car trains some in conjunction with other railroads . ns was the first railway to employ roadrailers which are highway truck trailers with interchangeable wheel sets . the norfolk southern railway s parent norfolk southern corporation is a norfolk virginia based parent company . norfolk southern corporation was incorporated on july 23 1980 in the commonwealth of virginia and is publicly traded on the new york stock exchange nyse under the symbols nsc . the primary business function of norfolk southern corporation is the rail transportation of raw materials intermediate products and finished goods across the southeast east and midwest united states . the corporation further facilitates transport to the remainder of the united states through interchange with other rail carriers while also serving overseas transport needs by serving several atlantic and gulf coast ports . as of october 1 2014 norfolk southern corporation s total public stock value was slightly over 34.5 billion . contents 1 history 2 company officers 3 current trackage 3.1 regional divisions 3.2 pittsburgh line 3.3 chicago corridor 3.4 chicago bypass 3.5 meridian speedway 3.6 pan am southern patriot corridor 4 yards and facilities 4.1 general freight classification yards 4.2 intermodal classification yards 4.3 locomotive shops 5 environmental record 6 locomotive and rolling stock 6.1 paint and colors 6.2 locomotives 6.3 heritage fleet 6.4 steam excursion programs 6.5 rolling stock 7 reporting marks 8 television commercials 9 awards and recognition 10 see also 10.1 improvement projects 10.2 cultural references 10.3 trade unions 11 references 12 external links history edit the system began in 1982 with the creation of the norfolk southern corporation a holding company for the southern railway sou formed in 1894 and norfolk & western railway n & w formed in 1881 . the new company was given the name of the norfolk southern railway an older line acquired by sou in 1974 that served primarily north carolina and the southeastern tip of virginia . headquarters for the new ns were established in norfolk virginia . the company suffered a slight embarrassment when the marble headpiece at the building s entrance was unveiled which read norfork southern railway . a new headpiece replaced the erroneous one several weeks later . 7 ns aimed to compete in the eastern united states with csx transportation formed after the interstate commerce commission s 1980 approval of the merger of the chessie system and the seaboard system . norfolk southern s predecessor railroads date to the early 19th century . the sr s earliest predecessor line was the south carolina canal & rail road . chartered in 1827 the south carolina canal & rail road company became the first to offer regularly scheduled passenger train service with the inaugural run of the best friend of charleston in 1830 . 8 another early predecessor the richmond & danville railroad r & d was formed in 1847 and expanded into a large system after the american civil war under algernon s. buford . the r & d ultimately fell on hard times and in 1894 it became a major portion of the new southern railway sou . financier j. p. morgan selected veteran railroader samuel spencer as president . profitable and innovative southern became in 1953 the first major u.s. railroad to completely switch to diesel electric locomotives from steam . the city point railroad established in 1838 was a 9 mile 14 km railroad in virginia that started south of richmond specifically city point on the navigable portion of the james river now part of the independent city of hopewell and ran to petersburg . it was acquired by the south side railroad in 1854 . after the civil war it became part of the atlantic mississippi & ohio railroad am & o a trunk line across virginia s southern tier formed by mergers in 1870 by william mahone who had built the norfolk & petersburg railroad in the 1850s . the am & o was the oldest portion of the norfolk & western n & w when it was formed in 1881 under new owners with a keen interest and financial investments in the coal fields of western virginia and west virginia a product which came to define and enrich the railroad . in the second half of the 20th century the n & w acquired the virginian railway 1959 the wabash railway and the nickel plate road among others . 9 in 1990 the two systems merged and formed norfolk southern railway . the system grew with the acquisition of over half of conrail . in 1996 csx bid to buy conrail . norfolk southern fearing that csx would come to dominate rail traffic in the eastern u.s. responded with a bid of its own . on june 23 1997 ns and csx filed a joint application with the surface transportation board stb for authority to purchase divide and operate the assets of conrail . on june 6 1998 the stb approved the ns csx application effective august 22 1998 . ns acquired 58 % of conrail assets while csx got the remaining 42 % including about 7 200 miles 11 600 km of track most of which was part of the former pennsylvania railroad . ns began operating its trains on its portion of the former conrail network on june 1 1999 closing out the 1990s merger era . the consolidated rail corporation conrail was a 11 000 mile 18 000 km system formed in 1976 from the penn central railroad 1968 1976 9 by bringing together several ailing northeastern railway systems into a government owned corporation . conrail was perhaps the most controversial conglomerate in corporate history . penn central itself was created by merging three venerable rivals the pennsylvania railroad prr 1846 the new york central railroad nyc 1831 and the new york new haven & hartford railroad nynh & h 1872 as well as some smaller competitors . conrail had become profitable after the staggers act in 1980 largely deregulated the u.s. railroad industry . norfolk southern and csx transportation have a duopoly over all east west freight rail traffic east of the mississippi river . according to ns s 2015 annual report to investors at the end of 2015 ns had more than 30 456 employees 4 353 locomotives and 76 641 freight cars . at the end of 2015 the transport of coal made up 17 % of the total operating revenue of ns general merchandise automotive chemicals metals construction materials agriculture commodities consumer products paper clay and forest products made up 62 % and intermodal made up 23 % of the total . in 2016 a proposed merger that had been months in the pipeline with canadian pacific was abandoned abruptly . the proposed merger would have seen the joining of two companies worth over 20 billion each . company officers edit robert b. claytor ceo 1982 1987 arnold b. mckinnon ceo and president 1987 1992 david r. goode ceo 1992 2005 president 1991 2004 charles wick moorman ceo 2005 2015 president 2004 2013 james a. squires 10 president june 1 2013 present ceo june 1 2015 present current trackage edit main article list of norfolk southern railway lines regional divisions edit lake dearborn detroit metropolitan area illinois alabama georgia piedmont pittsburgh harrisburg central virginia pocahontas pittsburgh line edit two ns trains heading east along the pittsburgh line the pittsburgh line is ns s principal east west line from the northeast to the midwest . running from harrisburg pennsylvania to conway pennsylvania it once was the core of the pennsylvania railroad s prr main line . an average day sees 60 to 110 trains of all types . the line is home to the famous horseshoe curve . chicago corridor edit at about 150 miles this is the most direct route for ns trains between chicago and fort wayne indiana . it has 16 passing sidings and several stretches of double track . chicago bypass edit main article kankakee belt route meridian speedway edit main article meridian speedway pan am southern patriot corridor edit on may 15 2008 ns announced that it would join with the ailing pan am railways to create the patriot corridor an improved rail route between albany new york and the greater boston massachusetts area . 11 12 13 on march 12 2009 stb approved the deal . 14 each of the two companies now owns 50 % of a new company known as pan am southern pas . par s trackage between