Norfolk Southern Corp.

Natural and catastrophic events · Pandemic and public health crises

The magnitude and duration of a pandemic, epidemic, or endemic disease, and its impact on our customers and general economic conditions can influence the demand for our services and affect our revenues. In addition, such outbreaks could affect our operations and business continuity if a significant number of our essential employees, overall or in a key location, are unable to work from contraction of or exposure to the disease or if governmental orders prevent our employees or critical suppliers from working.

Natural and catastrophic events · Climate change and environmental impact

In addition, legislation and regulation related to climate change or GHG emissions could negatively affect the markets we serve and our customers. Even without legislation or regulation, government incentives and adverse publicity relating to climate change or GHG emissions could negatively affect the markets for certain of the commodities we carry.

Natural and catastrophic events · Natural disasters and extreme weather

Severe weather conditions and other natural phenomena resulting from changing weather patterns and rising sea levels or other causes, including hurricanes, floods, fires, landslides, extreme temperatures, significant precipitation, and earthquakes, have caused, and may again cause damage to our network, our workforce to be unavailable, and us to be unable to use our equipment, or otherwise cause significant interruptions to our operations.

Natural and catastrophic events · Terrorism and security threats

Any terrorist attack, or other similar event, any government response thereto, and war or risk of war could cause significant business interruption or other operational challenges. Because we play a critical role in the nation's transportation system, we could become the target of such an attack or have a significant role in the government's preemptive approach or response to an attack or war.

Geopolitical and trade · Trade policies tariffs and sanctions

Trade discussions and arrangements between the U.S. and various of its trading partners are fluid, and existing and future trade agreements are, and are expected to continue to be, subject to a number of uncertainties, including the imposition of new tariffs or adjustments and changes to the products covered by existing tariffs.

Economic and market conditions · Economic recession and downturns

Because our business is dependent on the rail shipping needs of our customers, negative changes in domestic and global economic conditions, including reduced import and export volumes, could affect the producers and consumers of the freight we carry. Recessionary economic cycles and downturns in customers' business cycles, especially in market segments and industries where we have a significant concentration of customers, may substantially reduce our volumes.

Credit and liquidity · Access to capital and financing

We rely on the capital markets to provide some of our capital requirements, including the issuance of debt instruments and the sale of certain receivables. Significant instability or disruptions of the capital markets, including the credit markets, or deterioration of our financial position due to internal or external factors could restrict or eliminate our access to, and/or significantly increase the cost of, various financing sources.

Capital structure and performance · Credit rating and cost of capital

Instability or disruptions of the capital markets and deterioration of our financial position, alone or in combination, could also result in a reduction of our credit rating to below investment grade, which could prohibit or restrict us from accessing external sources of short- and long-term debt financing and/or significantly increase the associated costs.

Supply chain and procurement · Transportation and logistics disruption

Our ability to provide rail service to our customers depends in large part upon a functioning global supply chain and our ability to maintain collaborative relationships with connecting carriers (including shortlines and regional railroads) with respect to, among other matters, freight rates, revenue division, car supply and locomotive availability, data exchange and communications, reciprocal switching, interchange, and trackage rights.

Core operations · Operational disruption and business continuity

The nature of our operations inherently comes with the risk that one or more significant adverse events or outages may occur on or impact our network resulting in our inability or restricted ability to provide rail transportation services to our customers. These events include but are not limited to, a mainline accident, a hazardous material discharge, a climate-related network outage, or a technology-related network outage.

Human capital and workforce · Key personnel dependence and succession

Our success depends on our ability to attract and retain skilled employees, including key executive officers to oversee our operational, productivity, marketing, and technological initiatives, as well as a sufficient number of skilled professional and craft employees to enable us to efficiently conduct our operations.

Supply chain and procurement · Raw material availability and cost volatility

Fuel and energy costs have a significant impact on our operations. Volatility in energy prices could have a significant effect on a variety of items including, but not limited to: the economy; demand for transportation services; business related to the energy sector, including crude oil, natural gas, and coal; fuel prices; and, fuel surcharges, each of which could have a material impact on our business and results of operations.

Human capital and workforce · Skills shortage and training requirements

Changes in workforce demographics, training requirements, and availability of qualified personnel, particularly for engineers and conductors, have negatively impacted and may again negatively impact our ability to meet short-term demand for rail service.

Human capital and workforce · Labor relations and union negotiations

Approximately 80% of our railroad employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements with various labor unions. Future national labor agreements, or renegotiation of labor agreements or provisions of labor agreements, could significantly increase our costs for health care, wages, and other benefits.

Cybersecurity and data protection · Data breaches and cyber attacks

To conduct business, we extensively rely on information and operational technology systems. The threat landscape is vast, with potential attacks from cybercriminals, nation-states, state-sponsored actors and others including, but not limited to, service denials, unauthorized access, compromised equipment or rolling stock, extortion, or theft of data or money.

Cybersecurity and data protection · Third party data security and vendors

We also could be impacted by cybersecurity events targeting third parties that we rely on for business operations, including third party vendors that have access to our systems or data and third parties who provide services and are in our supply chain.

Digital transformation and innovation · Technology obsolescence and evolution

If we fail to develop, acquire or implement new technology, or otherwise fail to maintain, protect or integrate our information or operational technology systems, we may suffer a competitive disadvantage within the rail industry and with companies providing alternative modes of transportation service.

Industry regulation · Safety and environmental regulations

Our operations are subject to extensive federal, state and local environmental laws and regulations concerning, among other things: emissions to the air; discharges to waterways or groundwater supplies; handling, storage, transportation, use, and disposal of waste and other materials; and, the cleanup of hazardous material or petroleum releases.

Legal and litigation · Employment and labor law compliance

Job-related personal injury and occupational claims are subject to the Federal Employer's Liability Act (FELA), which is applicable only to railroads. FELA's fault-based tort system produces results that are unpredictable and inconsistent as compared with a no-fault worker's compensation system.

Legal and litigation · Litigation and legal proceedings

The costs, liabilities, fines, penalties, and/or financial impact resulting from or related to the Incident or the Incident Proceedings have been significant to date, may exceed expected or accrued amounts, and have and can be expected to continue to negatively affect our financial results.