.His ouster happens after 2 challenging years in the top project and also only times after the business's board revealed it was investigating him for alleged ethical lapses.The Atlanta-based railroad stated Shaw possessed an inappropriate unanimous relationship along with Norfolk Southern's main legal policeman, who was actually likewise cancelled. Norfolk Southern marketed Main Financial Policeman Spot George to be the railway's following CEO.Shaw was actually leading Norfolk Southern in February 2023 when one of its own trains hindered, spilled hazardous chemicals and also ignited in East Palestine, Ohio, the most awful railroad calamity in the last many years. Then, activist real estate investor Ancora Holdings tried to take command of the railway earlier this year as well as fire Shaw.He endured congressional hearings as well as challenging community appointments after the East Palestine derailment, while guaranteeing to make Norfolk Southern the "gold requirement for security" in the business. He additionally managed to convince real estate investors certainly not to back most of Ancora's panel nominees. 3 of its candidates carried out win seats on the railway's board, yet that had not been good enough to offer it control.The derailment near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border cued the nation to re-examine railway safety and also led lawmakers and also regulatory authorities to require reforms. But those plans have greatly delayed, and the field has actually produced only low improvements given that the derailment, like setting up much more trackside sensors to detect overheating bearings like the one that led to the East Palestine crash.The unsatisfactory financial results Norfolk Southern delivered after the derailment, incorporated with questions regarding Shaw's tactic of maintaining more employees handy during a decline, produced the railway enriched for pressure from a financier like Ancora. Norfolk Southern's profits have actually consistently lagged behind the various other primary railways that additional boldy embraced the lean operating model that has actually come to be the industry criterion.