4th Quarter 2021
Net Earnings: Increased 13% to $1.7 billion from $1.5 billion
Diluted Earnings Per Share: n/a – BNSF is not publicly traded
Revenue: Increased 11% to $6.3 billion from $5.7 billion
Operating Income: Increased 12% to $2.4 billion from $2.2 billion
Operating Expenses: Increased 10% to $3.9 billion from $3.5 billion
Operating Ratio: Improved to 60.0% from 60.3%


2021 Annual Earnings
Net Earnings: Increased 16% to $6.0 billion from $5.2 billion
Diluted Earnings Per Share: n/a – BNSF is not publicly traded
Revenue: Increased 12% to $23.3 billion from $20.9 billion
Operating Income: Increased 14% to $8.8 billion from $7.7 billion
Operating Expenses: Increased 10% to $14.5 billion from $13.1 billion
Operating Ratio: Improved to 60.9% from 61.6%
Read BNSF’s full earnings report.


4th Quarter 2021
Net Earnings: Increased 17% to C$1.20 billion from C$1.02 billion
Diluted Earnings Per Share: Increased 18% to $1.69 per share from $1.43 per share
Revenue: Increased 3% to C$3.75 billion from C$3.66 billion
Operating Income: Increased 11% to a record C$1.57 billion from C$1.41 billion
Operating Expenses: Decreased 1% to C$2.19 billion from C$2.25 billion
Operating Ratio: Improved 3.1 points to 58.3% from 61.4%

2021 Annual Earnings
Net Earnings: Increased 37% to C$4.90 billion from C$3.60 billion
Diluted Earnings Per Share: Increased 38% to $6.89 per share from $5.00 per share
Revenue: Increased 5% to C$14.48 billion from C$13.82 billion
Operating Income: Increased 18% to C$5.62 billion from C$4.78 billion
Operating Expenses: Decreased 2% to C$8.86 billion from C$9.04 billion
Operating Ratio: Improved 4.2 points to 61.2% from 65.4%
Read CN’s full earnings report.


4th Quarter 2021
Net Earnings: Decreased 34% to C$532 million from C$802 million
Diluted Earnings Per Share: Decreased 38% to $0.74 per share from $1.19 per share
Revenue: Increased 1% to C$2.04 billion from C$2.01 billion
Operating Income: Decreased 10% to C$832 million from C$928 million
Operating Expenses: Increased 11% to C$1.21 billion from C$1.08 billion
Operating Ratio: Worsened 530 basis points to 59.2% from 53.9%

2021 Annual Earnings
Net Earnings: Increased 17% to C$2.9 billion from C$2.44 billion
Diluted Earnings Per Share: Increased 16% to $4.18 per share from $3.59 per share
Revenue: Increased 4% to C$8.0 billion from C$7.71 billion
Operating Income: Decreased 3% to C$3.21 billion from C$3.31 billion
Operating Expenses: Increased 9% to C$4.80 billion from C$4.40 billion
Operating Ratio: Worsened 280 basis points to 59.9% from 57.1%
Read CP’s full earnings report.


4th Quarter 2021 
Net Earnings: Increased 23% to $934 million from $760 million
Earnings Per Share: Increased 27% to $0.42 per share from $0.33 per share
Revenue: Increased 21% to $3.43 billion from $2.83 billion
Operating Income: Increased 12% to $1.37 billion from $1.22 billion
Operating Expenses: Increased 28% to $2.1 billion from $1.6 billion
Operating Ratio: Worsened to 60.1% from 57.0%

2021 Annual Earnings
Net Earnings: Increased 37% to $3.8 billion from $2.8 billion
Earnings Per Share: Increased 40% to $1.68 per share from $1.20 per share
Revenue: Increased 18% to $12.52 billion from $10.58 billion
Operating Income: Increased 28% to $5.6 billion from $4.4 billion
Operating Expenses: Increased 11% to $6.9 billion from $6.2 billion
Operating Ratio: Improved to 55.3% from 58.8%
Read CSX’s full earnings report.


4th Quarter 2021
Net Earnings: Increased 258% to $595.1 million from $166.3 million
Earnings Per Share: On December 14, 2021, Canadian Pacific Railway acquired the outstanding common and preferred stock of KCS. Therefore, earnings per share data is not presented because the company does not have any outstanding or issued publicly traded stock.
Revenue: Increased 8% to $747.8 million from $693.4 million
Operating Income: Increased 209% to $810.6 million from $262.3 million
Operating Expenses: Decreased 115% to a negative $62.8 million from $431.1 million due to the merger
Operating Ratio: Improved 70.6 points to –8.4% from 62.2%

2021 Annual Earnings 
Net Earnings: Decreased 15% to $527 million from $619 million
Earnings Per Share: On December 14, 2021, Canadian Pacific Railway acquired the outstanding common and preferred stock of KCS. Therefore, earnings per share data is not presented because the company does not have any outstanding or issued publicly traded stock.
Revenue: Increased 12% to $2.95 billion from $2.63 billion
Operating Income: Decreased 12% to $884 million from $1.00 billion
Operating Expenses: Increased 27% to $2.06 billion from $1.63 billion
Operating Ratio: Worsened 8.1 points to 70.0% from 61.9%
Read KCS’s full earnings report.


4th Quarter 2021
Net Earnings: Increased 13% to $760 million from $671 million
Diluted Earnings Per Share: Increased 18% to $3.12 per share from $2.64 per share
Revenue: Increased 11% to $2.9 billion from $2.6 billion
Operating Income: Increased 15% to a 4th quarter record of $1.1 billion from $1.0 billion
Operating Expenses: Increased 8% to $1.7 billion from $1.59 billion
Operating Ratio: Improved 2% to a 4th quarter record 60.4% from 61.8%

2021 Annual Earnings 
Net Earnings: Increased 27% to $3 billion from $2 billion
Diluted Earnings Per Share: Increased 31% to $12.11 per share from $7.84 per share
Revenue: Increased 14% to $11.1 billion from $9.8 billion
Operating Income: Increased 28% to a record $4.4 billion from $3.0 billion
Operating Expenses: Decreased 1% to $6.7 billion from $6.8 billion
Operating Ratio: Improved 7% to an all-time record of 60.1% from 69.3%
Read NS’s full earnings report.

4th Quarter 2021 
Net Earnings: Increased 24% to $1.7 billion from $1.4 billion
Earnings Per Share: Increased 30% to $2.67 per share from $2.05 per share
Revenue: Increased 12% to $5.7 billion from $5.1 billion
Operating Income:  Increased 22% to $2.4 billion from $2.0 billion
Operating Expenses: Increased 5% to $3.3 billion from $3.1 billion
Operating Ratio: Improved 3.6 points to 57.4% from 61.0%

2021 Annual Earnings 
Net Earnings: Increased 22% to $6.5 billion from $5.3 billion
Earnings Per Share: Increased 26% to $9.98 per share from $7.90 per share
Revenue: Increased 12% to $21.8 billion from $19.5 billion
Operating Income: Increased 19% to $9.3 billion from $7.8 billion
Operating Expenses: Increased 7% to $12.5 billion from $11.7 billion
Operating Ratio: Improved 2.7 points to 57.2% from 59.9%

“The Union Pacific team concluded its most profitable year ever in 2021. We produced double-digit fourth-quarter revenue growth by leveraging our great rail franchise to generate positive business mix and core pricing gains,” UP CEO Lance Fritz said.
Read UP’s full earnings report.


Notes: 

  • Operating ratio is a railroad’s operating expenses expressed as a percentage of operating revenue, and is considered by economists to be the basic measure of carrier profitability. The lower the operating ratio, the more efficient the railroad.
  • All comparisons are made to 2020’s fourth-quarter and 2020 year-end results respectively for each railroad.
  • All figures for CN & CP are in Canadian currency, except for earnings per share.

Rep. DeFazio

WASHINGTON – Chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) sent a letter to the Surface Transportation Board (STB) opposing the approval of a trust for the proposed merger of the Canadian National (CN) and Kansas City Southern (KCS) railroads. In his letter, DeFazio stated that approving the trust is not in the public interest and would reduce competition.
“A single holding company responsible for this traffic would likely change rail traffic patterns in the significant areas of parallel service overlap and that would reduce the rail service options these 300 customers currently enjoy,” Chair DeFazio wrote in his letter. “I am also troubled that this combination of Class I railroads serving all three nations in North America will exacerbate U.S. job losses from cross-border trade agreements that prioritize profits over people and inflict harm on worker’s rights, consumer safety, and the environment.”
In April 2021, Chair DeFazio issued a statement after Canadian Pacific (CP) and CN each made separate multi-billion dollar offers to buy KCS, warning that the bidding war that ensued for the railroad threatened to usher in a new round of consolidations in the rail sector, ultimately threatening jobs and affecting shipping in the U.S.
DeFazio’s full letter to STB can be found below and here.
 


 
July 26, 2021
Ms. Cynthia Brown
Chief, Section of Administration
Office of Proceedings
Surface Transportation Board
395 E Street, S.W.
Washington, DC 20423
Re: Finance Docket No. 36514, Canadian National Railway Company, et al. – Control – Kansas City  Southern Railway Company, et al.
Dear Ms. Brown:
I am writing to express opposition to the voting trust proposed by Canadian National Railway Company (CN) in its proposed merger with Kansas City Southern Railway Company (KCS). I am concerned that this proposed trust is not in the public interest. The trust would reduce competition and prejudice the outcome of the Surface Transportation Board’s merger proceeding.
In its May 14, 2021, submission to this docket, the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice explained how voting trusts reduce competition both in general for railroad mergers and in particular to the consideration of a voting trust for CN and KCS. In general, putting two formerly competitive businesses under a single holding company immediately reduces the parties’ incentives to engage in competition. While the Surface Transportation Board regularly allowed railroad trusts throughout the many railroad consolidations of the 1980s and 1990s, the board has made the requirements to approve a voting trust more stringent since 2001 as part of an overall reform of merger rules. Now, according to 49 CFR 1180.4(b)(4)(iv), applicants must demonstrate that trusts would be in the public interest. Approving a CN-KCS trust would signal to the rest of the rail industry that the STB is engaging in business as usual, despite the requirement to consider the public interest, and could launch a new round of mergers.
Specifically with regard to the potential for a CN-KCS trust, I am concerned that approximately 300 current customers overlap on the CN and KCS networks. A single holding company responsible for this traffic would likely change rail traffic patterns in the significant areas of parallel service overlap and that would reduce the rail service options these 300 customers currently enjoy. I am also troubled that this combination of Class I railroads serving all three nations in North America will exacerbate U.S. job losses from cross-border trade agreements that prioritize profits over people and inflict harm on worker’s rights, consumer safety, and the environment.
I trust that the Surface Transportation Board will look at the specific facts of this action and conclude that approving a trust is too much, too soon. Too much authority in one company to somehow keep two companies competing against each other that have significant service overlap and too soon because allowing the trust creates a new floor purchase price for any other potential competitive bidders for KCS railroad. 
Sincerely,
Peter A. DeFazio

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) ruled in favor of safe train operations in June by denying a request by Canadian National (CN) that sought a waiver allowing an extinguished intermediate signal aspect to provide a signal indication.
The SMART Transportation Division Minnesota State Legislative Board filed comments in opposition to CN’s waiver request in a letter submitted in February.
“Apparently, CN seeks to avoid the expense of repairing and improving a defective signal system rather than recognizing the importance of a red signal aspect and the information that indication conveys to a train crew,” SMART TD Minnesota State Legislative Director Phillip Qualy said in the letter. “CN’s application seeks to normalize a dangerous and non-compliant operating practice.”
FRA received numerous comments, including a joint submission by SMART TD’s National Legislative Department, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), American Train Dispatchers Association (ATDA), Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS) and Brotherhood Railway Carmen Division (TCU/IAM) in opposition to CN’s request, and it was announced June 25 that FRA sided with the opposition.
“Had (CN) been successful, this would have set a precedent and been a nightmare for train crews,” Qualy said. “This denial is also a very significant application denial that is in our favor.”
Qualy said SMART TD Local 1292 Legislative Representative Dan Archambeau and Local 1067 Legislative Representative Nick Katich and others were thanked by FRA officials for bringing the issue to the agency’s attention.
Earlier in the month, FRA denied a request by the Association of American Railroads to lengthen the amount of permissible off-air time from four to 24 hours for rail brake tests.

Canadian National has placed the largest power order by a Class I rail carrier in three years, asking for more than 200 ET44AC locomotives to be acquired from General Electric over the next three years, according to a report from Railway Age.
The first round of locomotives are expected to roll off GE Transportation’s assembly line in Texas next year and will be delivered through 2020, Railway Age reported.
For the original article on Railway Age, follow this link.

CSX_logo
Net Earnings: $455 million or $0.48 per share; down from $507 million or $0.52 per share
Revenue: Declined 8 percent
Operating Income: Declined 10 percent to $841 million
Operating Ratio: Increased 70 basis points to 69.0 percent
Click here to read CSX’s full earnings report
 
KCS_rail_logo
Net Earnings: $121 million or $1.12 per diluted share; down from $132 million or $1.20 per diluted share
Revenue: Decreased 4 percent to $605 million
Operating Income: Decreased 9 percent to $200 million
Operating Ratio: Increased to 66.9 percent
Click here to read Kansas City Southern’s full earnings report
 
CP_Logo_RGB
Net Earnings: C$347 million (7 percent increase) or C$2.34 diluted earnings per share (a 15 percent increase); up from C$323 million or C$2.04 diluted earnings per share
Revenue: Decrease of 9 percent to C$1.55 billion
Operating Income: C$657 million, a decrease of 13 percent
Operating Ratio: 57.7 percent, lowest ever reported
Click here to read Canadian Pacific’s full earnings report
 
union_pacific_logo
Net Earnings: $1.1 billion or $1.36 per diluted share (9 percent decline); down from $1.3 billion or $1.50 per diluted share
Revenue: $5.2 billion, down 7 percent
Operating Income: Declined 11 percent to $2.0 billion
Operating Ratio: 62.1 percent, up 1.8 points
Click here to read Union Pacific’s full earnings report
 
CN_red_logo
Net Earnings: C$972 million or C$1.25 per diluted share, as compared to 2015 3rd quarter of C$1,007 million or C$1.26 per diluted share
Revenue: Decreased 6 percent to C$3,014 million
Operating Income: Declined 5 percent to C$1,407 million
Operating Ratio: A record 53.3 percent, a 0.5-point improvement
Click here to read Canadian National’s full earnings report
 
ns_Logo
Net Earnings: $460 million (2 percent increase) or $1.55 diluted earnings per share (4 percent increase); up from $452 million or $1.49 diluted earnings per share
Revenue: Declined 7 percent to $2.5 billion
Operating Income: Stayed at a steady $820 million
Operating Ratio: 67.5 percent, a 220 basis point improvement over 2015’s reported 69.7 percent in the third quarter
Click here to read Norfolk Southern’s full earnings report
 
Note: Operating ratio is a railroad’s operating expenses expressed as a percentage of operating revenue, and is considered by economists to be the basic measure of carrier profitability. The lower the operating ratio, the more efficient the railroad.

CN_red_logoCBC News reported that a CN Rail trestle bridge was destroyed by fire in Mayerthorpe, Alta; and that the fire may have been purposely set. Read the entire story here.

 Edwards

Edwards

Ryan D. Edwards, 27, of Schererville, Ind. was fatally injured July 25 while performing switching operations at Canadian National Markham Yard in Homewood, Ill. Edwards (Local 1299 of Schererville, Ind.) hired out in August of 2011.

Throughout his carer with the railroad, Edwards worked as an intermodal operator at BNSF and as a freight train conductor at both CSX and CN. While at CSX, Edwards graduated number one from his training class.

Edwards attended Columbia College in Chicago. He was an avid St. Louis Cardinals baseball fan and could often be seen wearing a Cardinals hat. Edwards married his wife, Victoria, May 22, 2010 and welcomed her two children, Edward and Emily, as his own. They later welcomed his son Ryan “RJ” into their family. He loved his family tremendously.

Edwards leaves behind wife, Victoria; their three children Emily, Edward and Ryan; his parents Nicole and John; his siblings Scottie, Tyra and Joshua; his great grandmother; grandparents and many other friends and family.

SMART TD General Chairperson Adren Crawford (Canadian National GO 433) reports, “The NTSB is investigating along with the SMART TD National Safety Team. No details of the incident have been released. Please keep his family and friends in your thoughts and prayers during this very difficult time.”

Visitation was Saturday, August 1 from 9:30 a.m. until time of service at 10:30 a.m. at the Salem Lutheran Church located at 18400 South Ashland Ave., Homewood, IL. Interment followed at Assumption Cemetery in Glenwood, Ill. 

Click here to leave condolences for the family, click here to view Edwards’ official obituary.

Canada’s two biggest railroads aren’t letting winter go unchallenged.

Canadian National Railway Co. (CNR) is strengthening its network, increasing employees and engines to keep trains running smoothly prevent another winter of icy and prevent another winter of profit-sapping gridlock. Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. (CP) is putting additional staff on standby, redeploying some equipment to “strategic” locations, and building new sidings in case below-average temperatures halt cargos.

“Last year was an extraordinary winter,” Canadian Pacific Chief Operating Officer Keith Creel said in a Dec. 15 interview in Toronto. “The rolling equipment, the air-brake systems, the steel that you ride the trains on, the locomotives that have to operate at 40 below zero — there are certain things that just don’t work when it gets this cold.”

Read the complete story at Bloomberg News.

 

CN_red_logoSMART Transportation Division-represented conductors and trainmen employed by the Canadian National/Illinois Central Railroad have ratified a new six-year agreement, Vice President Dave Wier reports.

The agreement provides for six annual wage increases retroactive to Aug. 1, 2010, with the final wage increase to be effective Jan. 1, 2015, totaling 18.6 percent and resulting in a cumulative wage increase of 20.08 percent over the life of the agreement. The accord includes conductor certification pay rolled into the rates of pay and full retroactive back pay for all active trainmen and employees that retired or died subsequent to Aug. 1, 2010.

The agreement also lowers the calculated vacation qualification days from 240 to 160 days; increases the meal allowance to $12 after four hours and every eight hours thereafter at the away-from-home terminal; improves bereavement leave; provides for a furlough retention board; institutes provisions for temporary transfer to other CN properties, and establishes seniority on the first day of compensated service.

It also establishes regular assignments after four consecutive days of similar-type work and provides for six-and-two and four-and-two work rest cycles with local negotiations concerning eleven-and-three work rest cycles. Participation in the National Health and Welfare plans continues.

“The work rest cycles are, six days of work followed by two days of rest, and four days of work followed by two days of rest, in a 14-day period,” Wier said. “The 11 and three is subject to local negotiations and includes ‘Smart Rest,’ to allow an employee’s consecutive work days to be reset by taking a 24-hour period off. This complies with Rail Safety Improvement Act regulations.”

Wier, who assisted with the mediated negotiations, expressed his appreciation to CN/IC GO 401 General Chairperson Tracy Bublitz (234), retired General Chairperson R.W. “Red” Dare (1525), GO 433 Acting General Chairperson Butch St. John (1557) and GO 433 General Committee Secretary Jerry “J.J.” Russum (1334) for their exceptional effort in bringing the members’ concerns to the bargaining table.

“This agreement will make their members some of the highest paid rail employees in the country,” Wier said.

Train operators in Canada’s burgeoning freight rail industry report falling asleep at the controls and coming to work exhausted at an alarmingly high rate, according to an ongoing CBC News investigation into rail safety.

“I have had instances where I have just snapped back into reality, and kind of, for a few seconds, not really realized or recognized where I am,” one Ontario-based CN rail engineer told CBC News, recalling how he’d missed a signal at the controls of a three-kilometre-long train.

Read the complete story CBC News.