Warren Buffett said Norfolk Southern Corp. did a poor job in the aftermath of its February train derailment in Ohio.
(Bloomberg) — Warren Buffett said Norfolk Southern Corp. did a poor job in the aftermath of its February train derailment in Ohio.
“I think they’ve handled it terribly,” Buffett, whose BNSF railroad competes with Norfolk Southern, said Wednesday in an interview on CNBC. “They were tone deaf.”
The Berkshire Hathaway Inc. chairman and chief executive officer spoke with his deputy, Greg Abel, from Japan. Abel said derailments are a broad issue for the railroad industry, and there’s “no question” there are lessons to be learned. Berkshire would rather not handle hazardous materials at all, but is required to do so, Buffett said.
Dozens of civil suits have been filed since the train derailed en route from Madison, Illinois, to Conway, Pennsylvania. The civil litigation could cost Norfolk Southern more than $100 million for remediation and other claims, according to a Bloomberg Intelligence analysis.
“I don’t think they’re necessarily bad people or anything of the sort,” Buffett said of the leadership at Norfolk Southern.
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