.His ouster follows two hard years in the top work and just days after the company's board declared it was actually investigating him for declared ethical lapses.The Atlanta-based railway pointed out Shaw possessed an improper unanimous relationship with Norfolk Southern's chief lawful officer, who was also ended. Norfolk Southern promoted Principal Financial Officer Mark George to become the railway's following CEO.Shaw was actually leading Norfolk Southern in February 2023 when one of its trains hindered, blew hazardous chemicals as well as ignited in East Palestine, Ohio, awful railway catastrophe in the last decade. Then, activist financier Ancora Holdings attempted to take control of the railroad previously this year and also fire Shaw.He survived legislative hearings and hard area appointments after the East Palestine derailment, while vowing to make Norfolk Southern the "gold requirement for security" in the industry. He also handled to urge entrepreneurs not to back the majority of Ancora's board candidates. 3 of its own nominees did gain seats on the railroad's panel, but that wasn't sufficient to provide it control.The derailment near the Ohio-Pennsylvania perimeter motivated the country to re-examine railway protection and led lawmakers and also regulators to ask for reforms. But those proposals have largely slowed, and also the industry has actually made simply very little changes due to the fact that the derailment, such as setting up even more trackside detectors to spot overheating bearings like the one that created the East Palestine crash.The unsatisfying economic end results Norfolk Southern provided after the derailment, incorporated with concerns concerning Shaw's method of keeping extra employees available during a recession, produced the railway mature for pressure from a real estate investor like Ancora. Norfolk Southern's revenues have continually dragged the various other significant railroads that more aggressively taken on the slim operating model that has actually become the industry standard.