.His ouster happens after two hard years in the top job and just days after the firm's board revealed it was investigating him for declared moral lapses.The Atlanta-based railroad claimed Shaw possessed an inappropriate consensual connection along with Norfolk Southern's main legal officer, that was actually likewise ended. Norfolk Southern advertised Chief Financial Officer Mark George to be the railway's next CEO.Shaw was leading Norfolk Southern in February 2023 when one of its trains wrecked, blew harmful chemicals and also caught fire in East Palestine, Ohio, the worst railway catastrophe in the final many years. At that point, activist financier Ancora Holdings made an effort to take control of the railroad previously this year and also fire Shaw.He weathered legislative hearings and difficult neighborhood conferences after the East Palestine derailment, while vowing to create Norfolk Southern the "gold specification for safety and security" in the business. He likewise managed to persuade investors certainly not to support most of Ancora's panel nominees. 3 of its own candidates performed win seats on the railroad's board, however that wasn't good enough to offer it control.The derailment near the Ohio-Pennsylvania boundary caused the country to re-examine railroad safety and security and also led lawmakers and regulators to require reforms. Yet those proposals have actually greatly delayed, as well as the sector has actually helped make merely very little adjustments given that the derailment, including putting in much more trackside sensors to spot overheating bearings like the one that resulted in the East Palestine crash.The unsatisfactory financial outcomes Norfolk Southern provided after the derailment, blended with questions about Shaw's tactic of always keeping a lot more employees available during the course of a downturn, helped make the railroad mature for tension from an entrepreneur like Ancora. Norfolk Southern's revenues have actually consistently dragged the other primary railways that even more aggressively used the slim operating version that has actually become the industry specification.