Eastern freight railroad CSX Corp.’s second-quarter profit jumped 36% on a stronger economy, the company said late Monday.
Second-quarter net earnings were $414 million, or $1.07 per share, up from $305 million, or 77 cents, a year ago. Earnings from continuing operations rose 51% from a year ago.
Earnings were boosted by higher shipping volume, prices and efficiency improvements, the company said. Revenue rose 22% to $2.66 billion.
Intermodal revenue rose 7% to $304 million, while volume increased 18% to 538,000 units, though CSX said that beginninng in the second quarter it will no longer report the intermodal unit’s profit-loss performance as a separate business segment.
Instead, it will include intermodal as part of its new UMAX program, a domestic interline container program. “CSX’s chairman now views intermodal similarly to merchandise and coal,” the company said.
CSX operates in the eastern United States and parts of Canada.