Investors backed a majority of Norfolk Southern Corp.’s board nominees, a win for Chief Executive Officer Alan Shaw in a bitter fight with an activist intent on throwing out the railroad’s leaders.

Ten of the company’s 13 director candidates won appointments, including Shaw, in a vote Thursday at the annual shareholder meeting. Activist investor Ancora Holdings Group came away with a partial victory as it placed three of its nominees on the board. 

Norfolk Chair Amy Miles was not elected. The company said it would elect a new chair at its next meeting, to be scheduled in the coming weeks.

The results, which still must be certified, mark the culmination of a campaign that had become increasingly acrimonious in recent months, with Ancora accusing Shaw of poor decision-making that led to weak operating results and an underperforming stock. While the vote likely means that Shaw will remain in place, he’ll need to find common ground with a firm that now has several board seats.

Norfolk said in a statement that it “will work constructively and collaboratively” on behalf of shareholders with the new-look board.

Ancora’s aim was to win majority board representation in order to force out Shaw and the chief operating officer. The firm had intended to install Jim Barber, a former executive at United Parcel Service Inc., as Norfolk’s CEO and hire railroad executive Jamie Boychuk as COO.

Among the investor’s seven-person slate, it won support for three: William Clyburn Jr., Sameh Fahmy and Gilbert Lamphere. Ancora said in a statement after the vote that it would “continue to hold Mr. Shaw to account and push for the appointment of a qualified operator who can actually drive shareholder value.”

The firm said at Thursday’s meeting that it received “overwhelming support” from active shareholders and thanked unions that supported its nominees. However, Ancora said it failed to receive backing from passive investors.

“For passive shareholders, if anything goes wrong here or if there is another derailment, it’s on you,” said Jim Chadwick, president of alternatives at Ancora. He added that his firm would still work with those investors.

The campaign generated heated rhetoric and split opinion among various stakeholders. A pair of Teamsters union divisions, proxy adviser Glass Lewis & Co. and customer Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. backed Ancora. In Norfolk’s corner were Lincoln Energy Solutions and Centennial Energy, as well as departing Surface Transportation Board Chair Martin Oberman. Adviser Institutional Shareholder Services also supported Shaw and several Norfolk board candidates.

Shaw took the helm in 2022, calling for a rethink of the precision scheduled railroading efficiency strategy that has dominated in the industry for more than a decade. His plans for change were upended by a derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, last year that spilled toxic chemicals, damaging the company’s reputation and performance.

Under pressure from Ancora, Shaw acquiesced to making profitability metrics a more explicit part of executives’ compensation. He also hired John Orr, a PSR acolyte, as chief operating officer.