Earnings increase for rail giants

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (BNSF) and Canadian National (CN) saw its revenues rise because of intermodal business. Ft. Worth-based BNSF said that its consumer products revenues increased $3 million to $848 million due largely to increased intermodal volumes from both international and truckload business. However, that gain was partially offset by decreased automotive shipments and lower levels of traffic in other intermodal sectors. CN president & CEO Paul M. Tellier said its 3% improvement in intermodal revenues reflected stronger Canadian retail sales, higher volumes on expedited trains in the Canadian domestic segment and increased overseas traffic in spite of the loss of some overseas moves.