Norfolk Southern Corp (NSC) operating KPIs

NSCNYSERailroads, Line-Haul OperatingFiscal year ends December 31

Financials through Q2 FY2026, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026Last filing: 10-Q on Oct 22, 2026Score 11/3040% above fair value

$342.64+0.45 (+0.13%)

Close on Oct 30, 2026Market cap $76.96BP/E 29.3Yield 1.58%

KPIs

Operating metrics that drive Norfolk Southern's business · fiscal year ends December 31

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Metric	Q3 2026 2026-09-30	Q2 2026 2026-06-30	Q1 2026 2026-03-31	Q4 2025 2025-12-31	Q3 2025 2025-09-30	Q2 2025 2025-06-30	Q1 2025 2025-03-31	Q4 2024 2024-12-31	Q3 2024 2024-09-30	Q2 2024 2024-06-30	Q1 2024 2024-03-31	Q4 2023 2023-12-31

Total railway units (carloads & intermodal containers/trailers)3	1,853,500	1,862,100	1,717,200	1,726,300	1,803,900	1,793,200	1,739,800	1,793,200	1,801,400	1,742,800	1,719,400	1,743,700
Merchandise carloads4	611,500	610,700	557,800	565,300	595,100	600,600	552,200	560,500	563,900	576,400	563,500	557,800
Agriculture, forest & consumer products	186,700	184,300	181,300	180,900	182,500	186,400	183,600	190,100	186,300	181,200	184,100	183,300
Chemicals	154,000	153,600	141,400	139,100	141,300	139,100	132,000	128,800	128,900	130,100	130,500	128,200
Metals & construction	175,400	169,000	145,500	151,200	168,000	171,100	148,300	152,300	160,800	167,900	160,600	154,700
Automotive	95,400	103,800	89,600	94,100	103,300	104,000	88,300	89,300	87,900	97,200	88,300	91,600
Intermodal units2	1,060,600	1,064,100	980,600	989,100	1,032,100	1,010,900	1,022,900	1,063,200	1,052,200	1,003,500	988,800	1,014,800
Domestic intermodal units	678,700	668,900	603,800	621,600	616,700	603,100	608,800	655,600	637,700	616,300	590,400	623,800
International intermodal units	381,900	395,200	376,800	367,500	415,400	407,800	414,100	407,600	414,500	387,200	398,400	391,000
Coal carloads	181,400	187,300	178,800	171,900	176,700	181,700	164,700	169,500	185,300	162,900	167,100	171,100
Coal tonnage shipped (millions of tons)(M)4	20.5	21.2	20.2	19.3	19.8	20.4	18.5	18.9	20.8	18.2	18.8	19.2
Utility coal(M)	8.55	8.58	9.32	7.78	8.73	9.30	7.31	6.73	8.27	7.55	7.02	8.02
Export coal(M)	8.18	9.35	8.23	7.98	7.43	7.50	8.26	8.50	8.82	7.25	8.75	7.54
Domestic metallurgical coal(M)	2.45	2.33	1.73	2.50	2.66	2.74	2.08	2.62	2.71	2.57	2.19	2.80
Industrial coal(M)	1.26	0.93	0.90	1.04	0.98	0.88	0.86	1.09	0.99	0.86	0.79	0.89
Revenue ton-miles (RTMs, billions)3	49	50	45	45	47	47	45	45	44	44	44	44
Merchandise RTMs (billions)	30	30	28	28	29	28	27	27	26	26	27	26
Intermodal RTMs (billions)	11	11	10	10	10	11	10	10	10	10	10	10
Coal RTMs (billions)	8	9	8	7	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8
Gross ton-miles (GTMs, billions)	94	96	87	88	90	91	86	88	87	87	86	87

Average revenue per unit (RPU)($)3	1,902	1,861	1,746	1,723	1,721	1,734	1,720	1,686	1,694	1,747	1,747	1,763
Merchandise RPU($)4	3,579	3,493	3,379	3,326	3,310	3,282	3,374	3,287	3,299	3,304	3,306	3,316
Agriculture, forest & consumer products($)	3,728	3,655	3,444	3,466	3,453	3,456	3,466	3,398	3,351	3,433	3,415	3,483
Chemicals($)	4,277	4,206	4,008	3,998	4,028	3,927	4,051	4,047	4,210	4,090	4,039	3,999
Metals & construction($)	2,944	2,837	2,841	2,670	2,672	2,676	2,791	2,573	2,611	2,620	2,679	2,601
Automotive($)	3,325	3,220	3,125	3,116	3,115	3,104	3,152	3,171	3,114	3,196	3,133	3,231
Intermodal RPU($)	866	853	764	755	735	735	743	744	726	739	754	782
Coal RPU($)	2,311	2,264	2,034	2,018	2,120	2,173	2,247	2,297	2,306	2,445	2,369	2,515
Average revenue per unit excluding fuel surcharge (RPU less fuel, Non-GAAP)($)3	1,650	1,638	1,624	1,598	1,605	1,621		1,571	1,562	1,598	1,596
Merchandise RPU (less fuel)($)	3,264	3,250	3,253	3,195	3,189	3,159		3,161	3,146	3,128	3,127
Intermodal RPU (less fuel)($)	635	621	627	618	608	613		622	590	592	605
Coal RPU (less fuel)($)	2,145	2,160	2,007	1,988	2,096	2,142		2,271	2,260	2,382	2,296
Railway operating revenues by commodity group($M)3	3,526	3,465	2,998	2,974	3,103	3,110	2,993	3,024	3,051	3,044	3,004	3,073
Merchandise revenue($M)4	2,188	2,133	1,885	1,880	1,969	1,972	1,863	1,842	1,861	1,904	1,863	1,849
Agriculture, forest & consumer products($M)	696	673	625	627	630	645	636	646	624	622	629	639
Chemicals($M)	658	646	567	556	569	546	535	521	543	532	527	512
Metals & construction($M)	516	480	413	404	448	458	414	392	420	440	430	402
Automotive($M)	318	334	280	293	322	323	278	283	274	310	277	296
Intermodal revenue($M)	919	908	749	747	759	743	760	792	763	742	745	794
Coal revenue($M)	419	424	364	347	375	395	370	390	427	398	396	430
Railway operating revenues excluding fuel surcharge (Non-GAAP)($M)4	3,058	3,050	2,788	2,759	2,895	2,907	2,791	2,819
Merchandise revenue (less fuel)($M)	1,996	1,984	1,815	1,806	1,896	1,899	1,796	1,771
Intermodal revenue (less fuel)($M)	674	661	614	611	628	619	629	662
Coal revenue (less fuel)($M)	388	405	359	342	371	389	366	386
Fuel surcharge revenue (consolidated)($M)	468	415	210	215	208	203	202	205
Year-over-year revenue variance bridge by driver3

Railway operating ratio (GAAP)(%)1	67.4%	67.6%	70.7%	68.5%	64.6%	62.2%	61.7%	62.6%	47.7%	62.8%	92.9%	73.7%
Adjusted railway operating ratio (Non-GAAP)(%)	65.4%	65.5%	68.7%	65.3%	63.3%	63.4%	67.9%	64.9%	63.4%	65.1%	69.9%	68.8%
Train speed — All trains (mph)	21	20	22	22	22	22	22	23	22	22	22	21
Terminal dwell — Entire railroad (hours)	23	24	22	22	22	23	23	22	23	23	24	25
Merchandise plan compliance2
Intermodal service composite (quarterly presentation)(%)	84.0%	85.0%	85.0%	86.0%	92.0%
Origin train performance (on-time departures)(%)	79.0%	67.0%	79.0%	76.0%	77.0%
Car miles per day	140	138	147	147	146
Locomotive productivity (daily GTMs per available horsepower)	129	130	127	130	132
Workforce productivity — GTMs per employee (thousands)	4,911	5,019	4,578	4,552	4,657	4,684	4,458	4,466	4,360	4,265	4,140	4,217
Locomotive fuel efficiency (gallons consumed per 1,000 GTMs)	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Locomotive diesel fuel consumed (millions of gallons)(M)2	95.9	94.5	88.9	90.1	90.3	91.7	93.5	92.7	91.2	91.6	97.9	95.3
Average locomotive diesel price per gallon($)	4.14	4.03	2.67	2.40	2.46	2.24	2.42	2.32	2.21	2.63	2.72	2.96
Railway fuel operating expense (GAAP)($M)	420	405	256	232	237	219	244	230	216	257	284	303

Railroad employees (average)	19,223	19,015	19,076	19,345	19,383	19,334	19,392	19,584	19,889	20,299	20,738	20,616
Quarterly payroll compensation by STB job group (Form A&B / STB-1245)6
Quarterly total service hours paid by STB job group (thousands)6
Quarterly overtime hours paid by STB job group (thousands)3
Train & engine miles actually run (millions, L600)(M)	43.8	43.5	42.7	43.4	43.9	43.0	41.2	42.8	44.5	46.6	48.4	50.0

Statutory expenses-to-revenues ratio (NSR Form RE&I)(%)2	71.4%	71.9%	77.1%	77.9%	71.0%	67.5%	66.5%
Total maintenance to revenues ratio(%)	27.3%	26.9%	31.3%	30.0%	30.1%	24.7%	23.5%
Transportation to revenues ratio(%)	30.7%	30.2%	28.9%	29.2%	28.0%	26.7%	28.5%
NSR statutory operating revenues & expenses (Form RE&I)9
NSR statutory revenue tons carried (millions, Form CBS)(M)1	84.6	86.6	78.8	78.5	81.8	83.9	78.2	78.1	82.7	80.2	79	77.5
NSR statutory revenue ton-miles (millions, Form CBS)(M)	49,077	49,598	45,330	45,032	46,785	46,894	44,909	44,962	44,423	44,383	44,272	44,726
NSR transportation property — net (Form CBS)($M)4	35,960	35,736	35,560	35,606	35,247	35,063	34,953	34,991	34,558	34,455	34,231	32,514
Investments & advances — affiliated companies($M)	1,572	1,559	1,550	1,545	1,532	1,519	1,505	1,496	1,491	1,465	1,454	1,443
Materials & supplies($M)	352	325	311	270	296	312	272	276	286	307	269	264
Gross additions & betterments — Road (quarterly)($M)	462	497	273	654	449	385	300	571	443	399	1,948	568
Gross additions & betterments — Equipment (quarterly)($M)	178	63.5	56.1	108	136	91.6	28.4	205	125	174	93.9	416
Locomotive fuel cost (STB Ex Parte 661)($M)3	429	412	262	238	244	226	250	236	225	265	290	309
Locomotive fuel consumed (millions of gallons, EP 661)(M)	103	101	96.8	96.9	96.7	98.2	101	99.4	88.7	98.3	105	103
Fuel surcharge revenue — all traffic (EP 661)($M)	467	416	210	215	208	203	202	205	238	259	260	314
Fuel surcharge revenue — STB-regulated traffic (EP 661)($M)	10.5	8.40	5.50	4.30	2.80	2.40	2.20	2.40	2.80	3.70	4.40	4.70

Property additions (CapEx) by category($M)	586	439	382	729	551	475	449	675	581	568	557	836

Eastern Ohio (East Palestine) incident — net operating expense / (insurance recovery)($M)4	28	15	10	-11	-11	-47	-185	-43	-159	-65	592	150
Incident legal proceedings accrual (period-end)($M)	189	186	189	474				444
Incident environmental monitoring & remediation liability (period-end)($M)	184	185	186	191				244
Other environmental remediation liabilities (non-Incident)($M)	58	60	62	63	62	63			57	58	56
Active non-Incident environmental remediation sites	69	70	69	69				74	75	77	77	81
Conrail (58% economic interest) — Shared Assets Areas expenses payable to CRC($M)2	46	51	52	49	47	44	49				52	41
Equity in Conrail earnings (net of amortization)($M)	21	20	19	16	20	23	16				21	20
Long-term advances from Conrail due 2050 (1.31%)($M)	534	534	534		534	534	534		534	534	534
TTX Company (19.78% owned) — railcar pool equipment use expense1
Equity in TTX earnings (offset to car hire rents)($M)	14	8	8	10	13	9	11				13	13
Union Pacific–Norfolk Southern merger-related expenses($M)	42	51	52	65	15	0	0	0	0
Adjusted income from railway operations (Non-GAAP)($M)3	1,220	1,196	939	1,031	1,138	1,138	961	1,062
Railway operating expense detail (GAAP & QFD breakdown)($M)5	2,376	2,341	2,121	2,037	2,005	1,935	1,847	1,893	1,455	1,913	2,791	2,265

Revenue($M)	3,526	3,465	2,998	2,974	3,103	3,110	2,993	3,024	3,051	3,044	3,004	3,073
Operating income($M)	1,150	1,124	877	937	1,098	1,175	1,146	1,131	1,596	1,131	213	808
Net income($M)	759	734	547	644	711	768	750	733	1,099	737	53	527
Diluted EPS($)	3.37	3.26	2.43		3.16	3.41	3.31		4.85	3.25	0.23
Depreciation & amortization($M)	363	358	352	353	348	346	346	342	339	335	337	330
Operating cash flow($M)	1,322	1,054	344	1,063	1,271	1,077	950	951	1,226	1,036	839	673
Capital expenditures($M)	586	439	382	729	551	475	449	675	581	568	557	836
Total debt-to-total capitalization(%)	49.8%	50.6%	52.0%	52.4%	53.0%	54.0%	54.3%	54.6%	55.5%	57.5%	58.4%	57.3%

Italic numbers are calculated by StockData from reported figures (hover for the formula). Numbers with a dotted underline are read from the text of earnings releases and presentations; hover to see the exact sentence. Tick a row to add it to the chart above (up to 8 lines).

Methodology and excluded metrics

Calendar fiscal year. Norfolk Southern Corporation's principal rail operating subsidiary is Norfolk Southern Railway Company (NSR, AAR/STB reporting mark NS), operating ~19,119 route miles across 22 eastern states and D.C. On July 29, 2025, Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern announced a definitive merger agreement (joint STB merger application filed December 19, 2025).
Quarterly and annual volume, revenue, revenue per unit (RPU), variance bridges, Intermodal Domestic/International units, Coal tonnage by market, ton-miles, fuel efficiency, and GAAP/Adjusted Operating Ratio come from NS's Quarterly Financial Data / Analyst Books (Q1 2016 – Q3 2026), NS's official 2018–2019 Merchandise Recategorization report, Earnings Presentations (Q1 2024 – Q3 2026), and Form 10-Q/10-K MD&A.
Monthly operational series (93 consecutive months, Jan 2019 – Sep 2026) come from NS's Monthly AAR Performance Reports (Train Speed across 5 train types, Terminal Dwell across 13 active classification yards, Cars on Line by owner & 8 car classes, and Spot & Pull / Plan Compliance).
Annual 10-year railroad operating statistics (train-miles, locomotive unit-miles, loaded/empty car-miles, road/yard hours, TOFC/COFC & multilevel automotive volume, Lamberts Point/marine coal tons) come from NS Combined Railroad Subsidiaries' STB Form R-1 Schedule 755 (FY2016–FY2025). Statutory monthly employment (Form C, 117 months through Sep 2026), quarterly wage/hours (Form A&B through Q3 2026), Form RE&I, Form CBS, Ex Parte 661 fuel/surcharge (all through Q3 2026), Form STB-54 cars loaded/terminated, and Ex Parte 552 ROI come directly from stb.gov.
All figures are as published by Norfolk Southern or the STB; no custom ratios, totals, or weekly-to-monthly averages are computed. The only arithmetic is splitting reported cumulative figures into single quarters: Q4 = full year (10-K) − nine months (Q3 10-Q) for Conrail and TTX affiliate note disclosures, and quarterly operating cash flow = year-to-date − prior year-to-date (shown in italics).
Norfolk Southern Corporation is a U.S. GAAP holding company exempt from parent-only financial statements (Schedule I), so there is no consolidated − standalone split.

Not shown because recent periods are missing (1)

Operating ratio, network velocity, terminal dwell (13 active yards), cars on line & fuel efficiency › Terminal dwell — Entire railroad (hours) › Columbus, OH terminal dwell (hours, monthly)

Data updated 2026-10-31.

Every KPI on its own page

Full history, chart, sources and a citation for each metric

Norfolk Southern Corp (NSC) operating KPIs

KPIs

Every KPI on its own page

Freight volume, coal tonnage & ton-miles

Pricing — revenue per unit (RPU), RPU less fuel, commodity revenue & variance bridges

Operating ratio, network velocity, terminal dwell (13 active yards), cars on line & fuel efficiency

Annual railroad operating statistics — STB Consolidated Form R-1 (Schedule 755)

Workforce, unionization, proxy pay ratio & STB employment / wage statistics

Norfolk Southern Railway (mark='NS') — statutory STB filings & Class I ROI benchmarks

Track infrastructure, maintenance, rolling stock fleet & capital investment (10-K)

FRA safety, Eastern Ohio incident, Conrail & TTX affiliates, merger/non-GAAP items & ESG

Financial context (database)