Turning Finders into Fixers: How Technology Is Advancing Rail

Image courtesy Norfolk Southern

ATLANTA –– LEADERSHIP PERSPECTIVES, RAILWAY AGE APRIL 2026 ISSUE: What is Norfolk Southern’s most important technology initiative? The short answer is AI.

Our team of data scientists are leveraging AI to elevate safety and reliability across our network. Running a nearly 200‑year‑old railroad comes with unique challenges, including how to honor the craftsmanship and discipline that built this industry while modernizing at the pace required to serve today’s fast‑moving economy. At NS, we have focused on thoughtfully integrating technology into our day‑to‑day operations to strengthen resilience and equip our railroaders with better tools so they can do what they do best, safer and more effectively.

We have built an integrated digital inspection ecosystem designed to close the gap between defect detection and action, empowering our teams to shift from finding defects to fixing at scale. By layering AI over our world-class Digital Train Inspection (DTI) portals, our Wheel Integrity System (WIS) scanners and our Autonomous Track Geometry Measurement Systems (ATGMS), we are fundamentally changing how defects are detected, prioritized, and repaired, strengthening safety for our employees, our customers, and the communities we serve across our 22‑state network. Technology gives us the opportunity to be more precise and proactive.

Our DTI portals are a cornerstone of that transformation. These systems use stadium‑level lighting and dozens of ultra‑high‑resolution cameras to capture roughly 1,000 images of every railcar as trains pass through at full speed, day or night, in any weather. Our in‑house data scientists have built more than 85 AI algorithms that analyze those images in real time, identifying defects that the human eye simply cannot see.

Today, more than 75% of the defects we identify on our railroad are first detected by technology. These systems can pinpoint microscopic changes imperceptible to the human eye long before they become visible problems. The result is tangible: we recently recorded one of the safest operating years in our company’s history – a testament to the powerful combination of our frontline railroaders and smart investments in technology that supports their work. 

Wheel failures can have serious consequences if they go unnoticed. That’s why we built on the success of DTI with our more specific WIS, a technology designed specifically to identify cracks and flaws in steel wheels. Using specialized camera angles and lighting, the WIS and our advanced AI algorithms recently detected and confirmed a cracked wheel before it could fail. That early detection led to root‑cause analysis, an external vendor recall and identification of similar defects elsewhere. This technology is preventing incidents before they occur.

Equally important is what’s happening beneath our trains with our track infrastructure. Through ATGMS, we’ve equipped locomotives with lasers and sensors that continuously measure alignment, gauge and subtle changes in track structure as they move across the network, using AI to analyze images and find exceptions. Instead of relying solely on scheduled walking or hi-rail inspections, we now have a near‑real‑time digital view of track health to help identify broken rails, deteriorating ties, and issues earlier and with greater accuracy.

Across all these systems, the philosophy is the same: technology excels at detection; people are essential for judgment and repair. Our railroaders’ expertise is invaluable. By allowing technology to handle more of the finding, we can redeploy skilled inspectors to focus on reducing risk, improving reliability and keeping freight moving safely.

This emphasis on technology enabled inspection, repair, and asset visibility will be especially important as we plan to merge strengths with Union Pacific and create the country’s first truly coast-to-coast railroad; a network of that scale must deliver not only reach, but consistent, predictable service customers can trust. These technologies and others give us a shared, data driven view of asset health, allowing issues to be identified earlier, addressed more quickly, and managed more uniformly across a broader geography. For customers, that translates directly to fewer disruptions, stronger network fluidity, and greater confidence that freight will move safely and reliably from origin to destination. As we look ahead, these systems will be foundational to building a railroad that is more resilient, more dependable, and designed to perform at the highest standard every day.

Modernizing rail isn’t about chasing novelty. It’s about responsibility. When you move heavy freight and a wide range of materials through communities every day, safety must remain the value that guides every decision. By embracing digital inspection technologies that augment human expertise, we’re moving our industry into the 21st century while staying true to the values and the railroaders who built it.