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EAST PALESTINE -- Nearly six months after the Norfolk Southern train derailment, company CEO Alan Shaw returned to the village to talk about progress, recovery and resurgence.
Shaw, in a recent interview, recognized how far the recovery efforts have come and acknowledged how much still needs to be done.
"Adversity reveals your character and it tests your resolve, and I am very proud of the progress we made in the community and helping those who I become close with within this community, but I know there is a lot of work to be done," he said.
Shaw has made weekly trips to the village since the rail disaster and he's witnessed first-hand the adversity he wishes those in the community never had to face and the grit and grace with which they have faced it.
Shaw became the CEO just eight months before 53 cars jumped the tracks along 1,900 feet of ground between East Clark and East Taggart streets.
"I became CEO last year with a vision that said 'we are going to operate in the long-term best interest of our customers, our employees and the communities that we serve,'" Shaw said. "You … realize this job is all about accountability and it's building trust. I am accountable to our employees. I am accountable to our customers and I am accountable to the communities that we serve, and I always want to create a situation where 10 years later we can look back on whatever we do and be proud of what we did."
PLAN OF ACTION
When the train derailed, Shaw immediately applied what had been a business plan into a plan of action.
"That's what I told the team on Feb. 4. I told the team that we are going to create a response here that when we look back on 10 years from now, we are going to be proud of our response," Shaw said. "And I certainly appreciate what the employees on the ground here are doing. They are implementing the new vision I laid out for Norfolk Southern when I became CEO by helping this community that we serve in any and all ways we can."
More than 300 Norfolk Southern employees and contractors have been working around the clock in the village since the derailment. Those efforts include recovery, remediation, revitalization and taking responsibility. The end goal is to put East Palestine back together. Shaw said the more time his team spends in the village the more paramount that goal becomes.
"We've got 300 people who are here between us and our contractors on a daily basis working on environmental remediation and working on the recovery for the families and the investment on the long term health for the community," he said.
"When those folks go home, they want to come back here. Some even cut their vacations short so they can come back here and get back to work. That tells me two things. It tells me the NS team knows they are making progress and they are making a positive impact on the community but it also shows me that the community is having a positive impact on the Norfolk Southern team."
Shaw acknowledges the derailment and events that followed have been hard on those within the community. He insists Norfolk Southern is committed to making things right in East Palestine and said Norfolk Southern will continue to follow the lead of the community.
"I know this has been a traumatic experience. I was here in the immediate aftermath when we set up our family assistance center one day afterwards and I was very vocal that we are going to do more than less, and we are going to do what's right. I think it took time for the community to understand what that meant because, candidly, I didn't know what that meant," Shaw said.
"I can apply Norfolk Southern's resources but the community has to tell where to direct those resources and I understand there is a financial component to this that is really important but there's also that personal involvement as well. We need to know the community to know where to apply the resources and where to help."
Shaw expressed sympathy specifically to those still displaced by the disaster. An EPA-created indoor-cleaning program will be rolled out soon. Shaw is optimistic that, once implemented, the program will be a big step forward in restoring normalcy.
"The EPA has developed a plan for house cleaning which we will fund. That creates progress (towards getting people back in their homes) and, for those who are displaced, we will continue to cover relocation costs, but I also know that's really difficult," he said. "I know being displaced is problematic. I know it's been hard and while I am very encouraged that we now have a plan for cleaning … "
COMMUNITY PRIDE
Shaw also addressed the $25 million park proposal, which includes a new pool, several revenue-generating additions and the revamping of existing amenities. Community response to the park has been overwhelmingly positive, but there are detractors who believe money could be better spent on more pressing matters. Shaw said the park proposal came directly from community feedback, which viewed the park as the heart of the village. The analogy stuck with Shaw.
"That was one of the first places the community leaders took me to was the park. It's a source of pride for this community," he said. "So I went back and talked to my team, and I said, 'This is a pretty special park and it draws people from all around the area. It's the central point in the community and I think we need to talk about ways we can help, assuming the community wants it, to invest in the park.
"We went to the city council with our park revitalization plan and we worked hand-and-hand with the community members in developing it. And it got applause at the council meeting when we proposed it. I think that's pretty special and shows that it is important to the community."
Shaw said Norfolk Southern will continue to engage with community leaders and follow their lead.
"This is a great community and we are going to invest in this community, and we are going to help this community thrive. The community directs where that investment goes," he said. "The conversations I have in the community now are completely different than they were in the following weeks. People are seeing the progress we are making and that's reflected in the tone throughout the town."
That progress, Shaw said, transcends monetary contributions and financial obligations.
'It's not just writing a check. That would be the easy thing to do, but it's not the right thing to do," he said. "If we are going to make it right, we need to invest into the community, not only with money, but with being present and being involved. We understand that the financial component is a big, big piece of recovery, but it's more about the personal involvement."
Shaw pointed out that before the derailment, Norfolk Southern was a part of the East Palestine community.
"Norfolk Southern is here and honestly Norfolk Southern was here before," he said. "There are 15 Norfolk Southern employees and their families who live in this community. We are part of the fabric of this community through those employees."
PERSONAL IMPACT
As for Shaw himself, he admittedly knew little of East Palestine before the night of Feb. 3, but has developed relationships since. He said he has connected with community members and made friends along the way.
"There were four winners of the Bulldog scholarship and all deservingly so, but one of them reached out afterwards and wanted to meet and so one of the next times I can up here, I met with Ryan Rosen and I had a great talk with him and he said, 'Look, I would like to shadow you for a day.' He's about to go to school to learn business and he said 'I would like to see what you do,'" Shaw said.
"I followed up and we took him up to Detroit and he and I went out into our lines and we saw one of our engineering teams working on the railroad, he met with our crews and we had dinner with a former admiral that I hired to oversee our safety program, and I stayed close to Ryan. I just talked to him last night. It's that kind of personal involvement that matters and matters the most to me throughout all of this."
He said it no longer just about professional accountability and the railroad's responsibility to the community.
"It's personal to me,' he said. "East Palestine is a wonderful community. There's a lot of pride here and a lot of entrepreneurial spirit. I met a lot of people who have gone to college and moved away but came back when they started to have a family. They came back because it is such a tight-knit family-oriented community where the school system and the religious infrastructure are strong and important to people here. They are proud to call this town home and I want them to be proud of Norfolk Southern, proud of our response and proud of our efforts."