Activist Wants to Fire Railroad CEO for His Lack of Ruthlessness (1)

Norfolk Southern Corp.’s chief executive officer was lambasted by politicians as the epitome of everything wrong with the profit-obsessed railroad industry when a derailment caused a toxic disaster in East Palestine, Ohio, last year.

Now, an activist investor is waging an increasingly personal battle to fire the CEO — but not because it wants the railroad to spend more on safety initiatives. Instead, Ancora Holdings Group is tagging him as a soft-touch marketing guy who’s overly deferential to workers and customers and unwilling to implement the operational changes necessary to compete in the notoriously cutthroat industry.

Alan Shaw is a ...