Norfolk Southern Corporation (NSC)

Freight railroad. Read October 19, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending December 31, 2025, filed February 9, 2026. Ranked 76 of the 95 Industrials companies read so far, by the share within reach now.

19,300 employees at the end of 2025 at a Class I freight railroad, read as one rail transportation pattern.

The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.

What follows from the reading

Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 17% now, 22% at the end of 2027, 24% at the end of 2028, 24% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 24% desk work, 8% people work and 68% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 57% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 36% becomes checking a model's work and 5% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.

Headcount

19,300 employees as of December 31, 2025 (stated). The filing counts no employees by country; the railroad operates in the eastern United States.

The filing: “For further information on the Incident and environmental matters, see Note 19 in Item 8 "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements." HUMAN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT Workforce - We employed an average of 19,400 employees during 2025 and 19,300 employees at the end of 2025.”

The workforce as industry patterns

What the filing says about the workforce: 19,300 employees at the end of 2025 and 19,400 on average during the year; staffing planned with forecasting tools and measured by gross ton miles per train and engine employee; no hourly, part-time or union figures in the sections read.

Companies read with the same leading pattern

Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also Rail Transportation, largest first, each read from its own annual report. Within reach now and at the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.

• Union Pacific Corporation (UNP, 29,287 employees)17% now, 24% by 2028
• CSX Corporation (CSX, 23,000 employees)17% now, 24% by 2028

What the filing says about AI

1 sentences in the filing name AI. The filing names AI in one sentence, a cybersecurity risk factor: the rapid evolution and adoption of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, both of which the company says it uses, may make cybersecurity threats harder to anticipate.

• “The rapid evolution and increased adoption of emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning (both of which we use), may make it more difficult to anticipate cybersecurity threats and implement adequate protective countermeasures.”

Its annual reports, year by year

Sentences naming AI in each annual report, counted by one rule, beside the median report in the Index that year. Each count links its filing. Every company, by year and sector

• Fiscal 20210median 0
• Fiscal 20220median 0
• Fiscal 20230median 1
• Fiscal 20241median 4
• Fiscal 20251median 10

Headcount by filing year

As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.

Limits of this reading

• The year-end count (19,300) is recorded under rule 2 where the collector took the 19,400 average for the year.

Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0001628280-26-006268, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.