Norfolk Southern Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer John Orr was honored as Railway Age’s 2026 Railroader of the Year on March 10 during the traditional dinner hosted by the Western Railway Club at the Union League Club of Chicago. Earlier in the day, he, in a discussion with Railway Age Executive Editor Marybeth Luczak, closed out the Next-Generation Freight Rail Conference. Norfolk Southern “Surrounded by family and friends last night, I was deeply honored and humbled to accept the Railroader of the Year award—and grateful for the opportunity to reflect on what this industry and its people mean to me,” Orr said. “Railroading has never been about one person. It’s about people, purpose and continuous improvement. Throughout my career, I’ve learned that if you’re standing still, you’re losing ground—and if you think you’re done learning, you have already lost. At Norfolk Southern, our PSR 2.0 transformation is anchored in safety and stability. Everything else depends on it. Timothy Orr, John Orr, Dewayne Swindall and Patrick Orr. “From there, we focus on building leaders at every level, pushing decision‑making closer to the work, and using data and curiosity to solve real problems—not just talk about them. PSR 2.0 ‘the evolution of railroading in the digital age,’ isn’t ‘either/or.’ It’s safety and service, people and process, reliability and profitability. When you invest in people and treat them as though they are full of capability, they become force multipliers for everyone around them. This recognition belongs to the many railroaders who…
