Orr Out the Door

Railroad Weekly June 8, 2026

courtesy: Steel Wheels Photography

Inside This Issue

· Orr Out the Door: High-Profile Ops Chief Leaving NS

· Raising the Barr: With Orr No More, NS Names New Ops Chief

· Pirates of the Meridian: Did CPKC & CSX Get a Big Gift from NS?

· Will Trump Take a Stake? UP Fields Questions About President’s Comments

· Hip, Hip Hooray: U.S. Rail Freight Up Nicely Through May

· Farmed to the Teeth: U.S. RRs Enjoying Busiest Grain Year in Decades

· Data Center Dissenter: CSX and Others Wondering, Are They Bad for RRs?

· Trash Talking: CSX Hauling More Waste as Landfills Become Power Mills

Track Talk

“We are grateful to John [Orr] for his leadership and many contributions to our operations, including a clear focus on safety, and disciplined cost efficiency and advancing operational excellence. NS is better today because of John’s impactful tenure.”

-Norfolk Southern CEO Mark George

The Latest: John Orr, Out the Door

· It happened with great fanfare. More than two years ago, on March 20, 2024, Norfolk Southern’s management team—then headed by Alan Shaw—appointed John Orr to be its new chief operating officer. At the time, Shaw was defending the railroad against a hostile takeover by Ancora, a Cleveland-based investment firm alleging—among other things—operational mismanagement. What better way to reassure investors, reasoned Shaw, than to appoint an esteemed disciple of Hunter Harrison, trained in the Jedi arts of Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR)? Orr at the time was with CPKC, where he helped the newly-merged railroad improve its Mexican operations. Before that, he helped lead the implementation of PSR at Kansas City Southern; all this after a long career at Canadian National, where he worked under Harrison.

· Lo and behold, John Orr is now no more, as in out the door at Norfolk Southern. Last week, the railroad announced his sudden departure, replaced immediately by Brian Barr. Orr will remain an NS employee through the end of this month, serving as an advisor to Board chairman Richard Anderson. He’ll then remain a Board advisor for another year, or until the Union Pacific merger is finalized.

· It’s no surprise that Union Pacific would have wanted its own pick to run Norfolk’s operations, eventually under the lead of UP’s own ops chief Eric Gehringer. But that’s a decision for after the merger closes, assuming it does. NS will now continue on—for the remainder of its independent life—without Orr, who was instrumental in the company’s revival from drama surrounding the East Palestine derailment. NS improved its operating ratio from 67% in 2023 to 65% in 2025. Under his watch, safety and reliability metrics improved as well.

· During the 2024 takeover battle, remember, Ancora sharply criticized the move to hire Orr. It certainly didn’t like that NS agreed to pay CPKC $25m to buy Orr out of his non-compete contract. It said he lacked eastern railroading experience and doesn’t deserve credit for implementing PSR at KCS—that, it said, was the work of his predecessor Sameh Fahmy. Ancora also dredged up old accusations of abusive workplace practices.

· Perhaps most consequentially, CPKC agreed to free Orr from his non-compete in exchange for not just $25m but also a major commercial concession. NS eased the restrictions on what CPKC was permitted to do commercially along the Meridian Speedway, which the two carriers jointly own. Prior to the agreement, only NS was