RALEIGH, N.C. — Norfolk Southern Railway Company has created a marketing and operating unit in eastern North Carolina to develop new business, improve customer service and increase operating efficiency. The East Carolina Business Unit (ECBU) began operations April 1, with headquarters in Raleigh.
The ECBU reflects Norfolk Southern’s renewed focus on eastern North Carolina and its rail customers. The business unit has dedicated local management with complete responsibility for managing 485 miles of Norfolk Southern-operated railroad track that runs east and south from Raleigh. The ECBU, the first of its kind within Norfolk Southern, is designed to bring the railroad closer to its local customers to better meet their needs, while improving the use of rail assets.
As an internal unit with its own budget, the ECBU is similar to a short line railroad but is linked to Norfolk Southern’s centralized dispatching, customer service and operating systems. It has the flexibility and speed of a small railroad backed by the industrial development and technological resources of a major carrier.
“This is a locally run business concentrating on the needs of local customers, backed by Norfolk Southern’s 21,500-mile rail system,” said Daniel D. Smith, president of Norfolk Southern Development, who has overall responsibility for the ECBU. “It’s a new, entrepreneurial way of doing business for Norfolk Southern.
“Working with our partners at the North Carolina Railroad Company and the North Carolina departments of Commerce and Transportation, the Port of Morehead City, communities and customers, we hope the ECBU will strengthen rail service in the region,” Smith said.
Carl D. Wilson is the ECBU’s general manager, based in Raleigh. Wilson, formerly Norfolk Southern superintendent of terminals at St. Louis, oversees the new group, including operating and marketing functions. Ronald L. Taylor, formerly general superintendent of Norfolk Southern’s Lambert’s Point Docks in Norfolk, Va., is director sales and marketing, also based in Raleigh.
The ECBU’s main terminal for sorting freight cars and building trains is at Raleigh. Satellite terminals are at Chocowinity, Goldsboro, New Bern and Morehead City. The ECBU operates three main rail lines and serves more than two dozen communities including Raleigh, Fayetteville, Mackeys, Lee Creek, Cumnock and Camp Lejeune, and, via the North Carolina Railroad, Cary, Selma and Morehead City. Some 100 Norfolk Southern employees are assigned to the ECBU team.
Norfolk Southern Corporation is a Virginia-based holding company with headquarters in Norfolk. It owns a major freight railroad, Norfolk Southern Railway Company, which operates approximately 21,500 miles of road in 22 states, the District of Columbia and the province of Ontario.