Supercharging rail resilience through technology

At first glance, the connection between sustainability and the technology that makes railroads safer may not be obvious — even to the main architects behind that tech.

Just ask Mabby Amouie, Norfolk Southern Chief Data Scientist. It wasn’t until Josh Raglin, NS’ chief sustainability officer, opened his eyes to his team’s impact on air, water, and land. The two replayed that conversation Wednesday in Atlanta during Super South, one of the nation’s largest climate conferences.

“We don’t gamble with safety,” Amouie told the audience. “The tech is allowing us to be more proactive, which benefits sustainability and operations.”

Raglin spoke about how converting shipments from the road to rail reduces emissions by 75% on average.

NS is accelerating that advantage through employee training, customer programs, and digital tools, including:

• Digital twin technology and its Automated Track Geometry Measurement System, which uses locomotives to continuously scan and evaluate track conditions in real time.
• Digital train inspection (DTI) portals, which recently hit a milestone. Over 75% of NS’ traffic is scanned by DTI portals each month.
• The wheel integrity system, deployed in late 2025, identified a critical external vendor casting flaw, helping trigger a broader industry recall and preventing potential incidents before they happened.

“There’s a reason 2025 stands as our best year in more than a decade on an accident-rate basis,” Raglin said, noting that safety gains are happening alongside sustainability progress, which includes record fuel efficiency, record recycling and profitable waste diversion work, and the launch of RailGreen, a first of its kind emissions-reduction program for shippers.

What’s next? NS leaders highlighted continued innovation, including a pilot program with Remora on the industry’s first carbon-capturing rail car.

Chad Previch leads external communications for Norfolk Southern in the areas of Sustainability, Community Impact and Technology. He also manages messaging related to the company’s Government Relations and Investor Relations priorities. He joined NS in 2025, bringing nearly 20 years of PR and corporate communications experience.