On Wednesday, Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC) announced the immediate appointment of John Orr as their new Chief Operating Officer (COO). UBS has reiterated a Buy rating on Norfolk Southern shares, maintaining a price target of $302.00.
John Orr, the newly appointed COO, brings extensive industry experience to Norfolk Southern. He has previously overseen CPKC's operations in Mexico and served as Executive Vice President of Operations for Kansas City Southern (NYSE:KSU) (KCS), where he worked on Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR) with Sameh Fahmy's team. Before his tenure at KCS, Orr spent over three decades at CN, holding various operational leadership positions.
The transition of Orr to Norfolk Southern involved a strategic agreement with CPKC. CPKC agreed to waive Orr's non-compete clause, allowing him to join Norfolk Southern. The waiver was not without cost, as Norfolk Southern agreed to pay a waiver fee of $25 million and to engage in certain operational and commercial considerations regarding the Meridian Speedway, a joint venture between CPKC and NSC.
CPKC has described these concessions as enhancing competition related to their proposed acquisition of Meridian & Bigbee. This move is seen as potentially granting CPKC greater influence over the pricing of traffic on the Meridian Speedway.
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