Dick Davidson, Union Pacific’s chairman & CEO, said strength in energy and agricultural traffic, coupled with strong real estate sales, helped to offset the challenges of a soft economy and continued high fuel prices as well as floods in key areas of its service territory.
Excluding the operations of its Overnite Transportation LTL subsidiary, Union Pacific said its operating income reached $478 million for the second quarter for 2001, down from $526 million in the same period in 2000. The railroad’s commodity revenue increased to $2.6 billion for the quarter as average revenue per car was up 2%.
Overnite reported second quarter operating income of $16 million compared to $17 million in the second quarter of 2000, Union Pacific said. Revenue increased 2% to $290 million from $283 million, while Overnite’s operating ratio increased 0.5% to 94.6%.
For the first half of 2001, Union Pacific reported total operating income of $933 million and net income of $424 million compared to operating income of $994 million and net income of $429 million for the same period in 2000.