Delivering Benefits to All Stakeholders
For Safety
Safety Is the Top Priority for Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern
The combined company’s focus will remain on ensuring every employee goes home safe to their families and protecting the communities where it operates.
Aiming to Be the Safest Railroad in North America
Over the past two decades, the industry has made significant safety improvements making rail even safer, according to Federal Railroad Administration data comparing 2023 to 2000
Overall train accident rate decreased 27%1
Employee injury rate fell 50%1
Grade crossing collision rates dropped 25%1
Improving Safety and Service Through Technology
The transaction sets the stage for ongoing technological evolution across the rail industry, keeping U.S. railroads at the forefront of freight transportation, ensuring adaptability to shifting market needs and regulatory standards while promoting robust competition.
Union Pacific’s modernized critical rail technologies – like CADx, Train Builder and NetControl – can be implemented on the transcontinental network to accelerate productivity, growth and innovation.
Union Pacific will also seek to integrate Norfolk Southern solutions – like Digital Train Inspection portals and Automated Track Inspection technology – that can strengthen combined operations.
The railroad will expand use of Union Pacific’s Physics Train Builder, which can predict the in-train forces that may occur during a trip. This data helps determine how a train will handle, where cars should be placed, what power will be needed and the best routes. It’s also used to enhance employee training.
We plan to implement Mobile NX, a semi-autonomous switching technology to reduce TE&Y daily walking distances by greater than 60% within Norfolk Southern terminals that handle greater than 800 cars per day.
We expect to invest in purchasing and operating revolutionary tie and rail unloading equipment to reduce employee personal injuries. Together, our network will unload approximately 5.3 million ties and approximately 900 miles of rail annually as part of its annual capital tie and rail renewal programs; new technology enables remote, semi-autonomous unloading of ties and rail to eliminate safety risk related to direct handling.
The combined network will leverage technologies that reduce derailments and rail incidents by improving operational precision and monitoring.