Engine 9-1-1 Rolls out of Juniata Shops

[NS Newsfeed]

ALTOONA, BLAIR COUNTY -- A new Norfolk Southern locomotive freshly painted in the Juniata locomotive shop rolled out on the tracks Wednesday afternoon.



Engine 9-1-1 was unveiled for the first time Wednesday.



Here to honor first responders, the city of Altoona and Logan Township police and fire departments came out in support.



As Altoona Fire Chief Tim Hileman says, "There's a lot of publicity about accidents in the rail industry. What this does is it shows the commitment of companies like Norfolk Southern to provide the kind of training and other things that we need, it's more than just a nice painted locomotive."



Norfolk Southern designed the train in Virginia, but all of the painting was done right here at the Juniata locomotive shop.  It's one of 25 specially painted engines in the Norfolk Southern fleet.



Congressman Bill Shuster, of the 9th district says, "Railroad is one of the safest modes of transportation, but occasionally there's things that happen at railroad crossings, derailments and our first responders, they're there on the scene."



Norfolk Southern supports emergency responders with training and special equipment for the railroad industry.



Norfolk Southern spokesperson Rudy Husband adds, "We want to make sure that they're prepared for an incident in case something happens and so this is just a reminder for everybody we do value what emergency responders do for Norfolk Southern."



Engine 9-1-1 will eventually run on rails across Norfolk Southern's 22 state coverage area.