(Reuters circulated the following on March 24, 2011.)
NEW YORK — Railroad carload disruptive winter storms, and should keep growing with the economy this year, several railroad executives said at a conference on Thursday.
“We feel good about 2011,” Wick Moorman, chief executive of Norfolk Southern, said at a J.P. Morgan conference that was webcast on Thursday. “We anticipate solid growth in everything except anything that’s housing-related.”
Coal demand will likely mount, he said, particularly in light of Japan’s nuclear crisis.
Union Pacific’s car loadings rose 5 percent so far this quarter and would have been up 6 percent if not for severe weather, leading to expected “solid growth in quarterly operating income” despite a five-cent impact from fuel costs, said Chief Financial Officer Rob Knight.
CSX Corp reiterated its forecast of volume exceeding gross domestic product and industrial production growth, and that core pricing gains in 2011 will exceed inflation.
The full story is on the Reuters website.