Ancora Details Serious Governance, Process and Competition-Related Issues Stemming from Norfolk Southern’s Appointment of John Orr as COO

Ohio-based Ancora Holdings Group, LLC (collectively with its affiliates, “Ancora” or “we”), which owns a large equity stake in Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC) (“Norfolk Southern” or the “Company”), today issued the below statement in response to the Company’s appointment of its third COO in two years under CEO Alan Shaw:

“The Board and Mr. Shaw put their own interests ahead of shareholders’ interests by paying $25 million and giving up part of Norfolk Southern’s long-term franchise, in the form of concessions related to the Meridian Speedway and Terminal, just to hire a COO without any experience at an Eastern railroad and whose most recent role was eliminated altogether at CPKC.¹ Keep in mind that Norfolk Southern invested approximately $300 million for a 30% stake in the Meridian assets in 2006, suggesting the net present value of that stake is worth significantly more in 2024. The deal disclosed today allows Norfolk Southern to hire one questionable executive while permitting CPKC to leverage concessions to realize greater value from its transaction involving the Meridian & Bigbee Railroad, which it is pursuing with CSX.² The deal also proceeded despite Norfolk Southern’s previous concerns about CPKC and CSX’s partnership plans.³ It appears the Board and Mr. Shaw struck a fool’s bargain that gets Norfolk Southern a short-term PR win while CPKC and CSX, the Company’s closest peer, strengthen their partnership and competitive offerings. Based on the real and implied cost of securing Mr. Orr, who analysts and investors have told us they never heard of prior to today, the sitting directors may have signed off on one of the most expensive and overpriced hires in industry history.

Norfolk Southern’s leadership took this costly and defensive step amidst an election contest, absent a comprehensive search and interview process, and without providing shareholders any say in the decision.⁴ We believe this action does not just deprive shareholders of the best possible COO and strengthen two other Class I railroads, but it puts in place an individual with limited experience as an operations leader and little involvement in any recent PSR implementation. The fact is Mr. Orr was appointed EVP of Operations at Kansas City Southern after it had already announced its merger with Canadian Pacific in March 2021 and well after Sameh Fahmy, our director candidate, oversaw a multi-year network transformation as EVP of PSR at Kansas City Southern.