Norfolk Southern works to achieve balance between business operations and the environment. A commitment to sustainable business practices makes a positive difference in business today and will have a lasting impact on the environment for generations to come.
Norfolk Southern’s stewardship of resources extends beyond its own business operations. The company also helps customers effectively manage their environmental and economic impacts in the community.
Freight rail transportation delivers a number of public benefits. On average, railroads are four times more fuel efficient than trucks. Because a single train can carry the freight of several hundred trucks, moving freight by rail helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, highway gridlock, and the need to spend taxpayer dollars on highway maintenance and improvement.
Norfolk Southern offers safe and reliable waste transportation solutions for customers and communities throughout its 22-state rail network. In 2017, Norfolk Southern moved more than 3.2 million tons of municipal solid waste, including trash, demolition debris, and industrial waste to environmentally sound disposal sites. NS saved customers more than 57,000 tons of carbon emissions hauling waste by rail compared to truck. That’s the equivalent of removing 58,000 cars from the highway or planting nearly 360,000 trees each year.
Norfolk Southern has been a leader in providing communities inventive and environmentally friendly waste solutions for more than a quarter-century. In 1993, Norfolk Southern and the Roanoke Valley Resource Authority created the Waste Line Express to transport municipal solid waste. Nearly every day since then, approximately 17 covered rail cars transporting solid waste roll out of the Tinker Creek Transfer Station on their 27-mile journey to the Bradshaw Creek Landfill, moving up to 230,000 tons of waste per year.
This innovative service offered through the resource authority saves the Roanoke Valley more than 44 loaded trucks on local roads and regional interstate routes each day. Additionally, this operation reduces carbon emissions in the region by an estimated 400 tons annually in a cost-effective manner.
WastesolutioNS continues to add value to communities across the region. In Virginia, Norfolk Southern’s WastesolutioNS business now replaces more than 12,000 annual truck moves with safe and efficient rail transportation, reducing carbon emissions by more than 1,300 tons annually.
Since 2014, MSW shipments across NS’ network have grown by more than 35 percent. This growth is projected to continue in 2018 and beyond as more communities and stakeholders recognize the value of safe and reliable rail solutions for municipal waste.
Contact Tim Butt for more information on Norfolk Southern’s waste transportation services.
