Norfolk Southern returns to Atlanta the week it unveils Cincinnati intermodal service

Norfolk Southern flew from Omaha, Nebraska, to Atlanta, Georgia, on May 19, 2026, landing at Fulton County Airport at 4:45 p.m. Eastern. The 1-hour-48-minute hop in its Challenger 605 closed out a brief stay in Nebraska, following a May 18 leg from Atlanta to Omaha.

The return lands the same week Norfolk Southern launched a new domestic intermodal service connecting Cincinnati and Atlanta, beginning the week of May 4, per a Norfolk Southern announcement. The trip also comes days after the railroad and Union Pacific refiled their merger application with federal regulators on April 30, as reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution earlier this spring. CEO Mark George had told the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association on April 14 that the merger refiling would be submitted by end of April, per FreightWaves.

Norfolk Southern’s recent flight pattern shows a familiar rhythm: Atlanta to Washington, D.C., and back on May 14, and a series of D.C.-to-Chicago-area hops earlier that week. The Omaha stop—Union Pacific’s hometown—suggests continued face-to-face merger coordination with Union Pacific executives ahead of the Surface Transportation Board’s expected year-long review. The new Cincinnati-Atlanta lane, meanwhile, leverages existing Norfolk Southern terminals and 53-foot domestic container fleet to serve retail and manufacturing customers, the railroad said.