NORFOLK, Va. — When Roanoke-based Norfolk & Western and Washington, D.C.-based Southern Railway merged in 1982, they created one of the largest railroads in the nation. A United Press International story written at the time stated that the decision to base the railroad in Norfolk was a surprise.
Its departure from the city 36 years later is anything but.
Norfolk Southern Corp. on Dec. 12 announced officially what had been expected for some time: that it will move its corporate headquarters from Norfolk to Atlanta.
The formal word came when company Chairman and CEO Jim Squires was heard telling a roomful of railroad employees gathered in a closed-door meeting room at the Norfolk Sheraton Waterside that the railroad would indeed be leaving for Georgia.
“We will be a better team when we are together as a team,” Squires said.
Employees are expected to move in two phases, with the first 100 moving next summer and the remainder joining them in the new headquarters by the summer of 2021.