Norfolk Southern to name new chief operating officer amid proxy battle

The new COO, CPKC executive John Orr, brings a Precision Scheduled Railroading operating background to NS

ATLANTA — Amid a proxy fight with an activist investor, Norfolk Southern on Wednesday will name Canadian Pacific Kansas City executive John Orr as its chief operating officer, Trains News Wire has learned.

Norfolk Southern will name CPKC executive John Orr its chief operating officer on Wednesday. CPKC

Orr brings a Precision Scheduled Railroading operations background — which is prized on Wall Street — to Norfolk Southern as the company seeks to fend off an investor group led by Cleveland-based Ancora Holdings.

Citing lagging operational, financial, and safety performance, Ancora aims to oust CEO Alan Shaw and wants to install former CSX operations chief Jamie Boychuk as NS’s chief operating officer. At CSX, Boychuk worked alongside CEO E. Hunter Harrison as the Eastern railroad implemented the low-cost PSR operating model in 2017. CSX dismissed Boychuk in August 2023.

Orr, who is CPKC’s executive vice president and chief transformation officer, previously served as Kansas City Southern’s chief operating officer from 2021 to 2023. A fourth-generation railroader, Orr began his career in 1985 as a conductor at Canadian National, where he rose through the ranks and was named senior vice president and chief transportation officer in August 2018. He left CN in February 2019.

At CPKC, Orr’s responsibilities include Mexico operations, network operations planning and design, labor relations, and regulatory affairs.

Orr replaces Paul Duncan, a former BNSF Railway executive who joined NS in March 2022 as vice president of network planning and operations. Duncan was promoted to senior vice president of transportation and network operations in September 2022.

Duncan became chief operating officer on Jan. 1, 2023, just over a month before the disastrous hazardous materials derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, which has been blamed on the catastrophic failure of a wheel bearing.

Duncan led the implementation of Norfolk Southern’s TOP|SPG operating plan in 2022 and played a central role in the railroad’s recovery from service problems related to widespread crew shortages.

Ancora has proposed a majority slate of eight board candidates and has touted former UPS executive Jim Barber Jr. as its chief executive candidate.

Norfolk Southern declined to comment.