Logistics

Union Pacific Corp.’s petition seeking Surface Transportation Board permission to limit the railroad’s common carrier freight-hauling responsibilities has elicited a common response from nearly all other interested parties: Absolutely not.

Union Pacific Corp.’s first-quarter profit fell 18% to $362 million, or 72 cents per share, from $443 million, or 85 cents, a year ago.

Existing homes sales fell 3% in March, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday.

Canadian freight railroad Canadian Pacific’s first-quarter net income fell 31.1% to C$62.5 million, or 39 cents a share, from C$90.7 million, or 59 cents a share a year earlier.

Norfolk Southern Corp. said its first-quarter profit fell 39% from a year ago on lower shipping demand.

Transportation and third-party logistics firm C.H. Robinson Worldwide’s first-quarter profit dipped slightly to $85.4 million, or 50 cents a share, from $86.3 million, or 50 cents, a year ago.

Freight brokers and logistics providers, who met earlier this month in San Antonio, provided more evidence of the bleak condition of the freight transportation business and also moved to gather data on the size of their segment of the industry.

Canadian National Railway said late Monday its first-quarter net income rose to C$424 million, or 90 cents a share, from C$311 million, or 64 cents, a year ago.

A federal judge ruled that Norfolk Southern Corp. can continue operating an ethanol-transfer station in Alexandria, Va., overruling a local ordinance, Bloomberg reported.