Case Study: Norfolk Southern Corporation achieves multimillion-dollar savings and improved operational efficiency with Teradata

Enhancing Operational Efficiency and Customer Satisfaction

Norfolk Southern, one of the largest U.S. railroads with about 20,000 route miles and 30,000 employees, faced a post‑deregulation market that demanded scheduled service, better operational visibility, and real‑time shipment information for customers. Leadership needed more accurate, enterprise‑grade decision support to manage trains and cars, reduce delays and penalties, and improve workforce productivity and customer self‑service.

The company deployed a Teradata integrated data warehouse and modern BI tools (grown from 1TB in 1995 to a 34TB system with four‑hour disaster recovery), plus the accessNS customer portal, dashboards and mobile/text alerts. The program expanded BI access to thousands of internal users and 14,500 customer users, delivering 4,500 reports daily and eliminating 47 report‑generation jobs. Key results included $2.8M annual held‑train savings, a 60% reduction in missed connections, car connection improvements from 80% to 92%, a one‑day reduction in car cycle time (millions in annual savings), fewer late‑delivery penalties, and measurable gains in customer satisfaction and operational decision‑making.

Norfolk Southern Corporation

Mark Myers

IT Manager for Business Intelligence and Data Warehouse Development