RICHMOND, Va. — CSX Corporation today reported third-quarter net income of $127 million, 60 cents a share, up from $100 million, 47 cents a share, a year ago. The increase resulted primarily from real estate gains and decreased interest expenses compared to last year. Slowed by weak coal demand and higher costs, the company’s rail and intermodal units reported third-quarter operating income of $227 million, down from $237 million a year ago.
John W. Snow, chairman and chief executive officer said: “The rail group’s performance in the third quarter marked a departure from the consistent year- to-year gains we have been seeing for the past two years. We are confident that the problems we saw in the third quarter are now well behind us and look forward to delivering much stronger fourth-quarter results.”
Total CSX revenues for the quarter were $2.06 billion versus $2.02 billion last year. Rail and intermodal revenues were $1.79 billion, flat from a year ago. Revenues for the company’s auto, merchandise and intermodal businesses were all up for the quarter, offsetting the weakness in coal.
Michael J. Ward, CSX president, noted: “We remain committed to continued improvement in service quality, safe operations and achieving growth through modal conversions and value pricing. At the same time, we are reviewing our cost structure and taking the steps necessary to improve the efficiency of our operations.”
Earnings from the company’s marine businesses were $40 million for the quarter, compared to $37 million a year ago. Driven by real estate gains, Other Income was $28 million, up $24 million over last year. Interest expense decreased to $108 million, a $21 million reduction from last year.
CSX Corporation, based in Richmond, Va., operates one of the largest rail networks in the eastern half of the United States. It also provides intermodal, domestic container shipping and global container terminal operations. More information about the company is available at its Internet address: www.csx.com.