Norfolk Southern announced recently that it will close its Roanoke dispatching center and offer those 56 employees dispatching jobs in Atlanta.
According to a report by The Roanoke Times eight regional dispatching offices will be consolidated at one Atlanta address, the company said. Some 450 people employed at the regional centers will have the option to relocate to the Atlanta site, the company said.
Another media outlet reported that the Decatur, Illinois dispatching center will also close. The Herald&Review reported that 40 jobs in Decatur will relocate to Atlanta.
The company said it wants to “manage rail operations from a network perspective vs. from individual locations.” No further details were available, including when the job moves will occur.
Dispatchers route 1,000 trains with 180,000 cars in a typical day.
The railroad updated its financial information last week, touching on expense cutting and operating results. The company reported a $3.97 billion quarterly profit, inflated by recent tax cuts. It said it has cut $400 million in costs toward a goal of cutting $650 million by 2020. It said revenue grew 7 percent and that it hauled 5 percent more carloads of freight.
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