Norfolk Southern TOP|SPG Operating Plan, with Cindy Sanborn and Paul Duncan

Rail Group On Air

Norfolk Southern’s TOP|SPG operating plan—which stands for Thoroughbred Operating Plan | Service Productivity Growth—has evolved from NS’s previous plans, TOP 21 among them. Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Cindy Sanborn and Vice President Network Planning and Operations Paul Duncan join Railway Age Editor-in-Chief William C. Vantuono to talk about how TOP | SPG “isn’t a radical change in how we work with our customers, but a shift in how we execute our operations to move their shipments more directly and consistently.” The biggest changes affect intermodal markets, NS’s most time-sensitive business. TOP | SPG modifies about 90% of scheduled intermodal and merchandise trains “to reduce terminal congestion, improve network fluidity and create capacity for growth, ultimately simplifying the network through an operating plan with a high level of executability that will drive greater consistency and service improvements for customers.” Podcast sponsored by The Greenbrier Companies