BNSF logs revenue, income growth in Q1

BNSF Railway reported first-quarter operating revenue rose 5% to $5.97 billion and net income grew 13% to $1.4 billion compared to the same quarter a year ago.

The Class I's operating income grew 12% to $2 billion and its operating ratio improved 2.3 basis points to 65.6 in the quarter, according to BNSF's recently released Q1 performance summary.

The revenue increase is primarily due to a 2% increase in volume and a 3% increase in average revenue per unit resulting from business mix, core pricing gains and higher fuel surcharge revenue, BNSF officials said in the report.

Revenue changes also resulted from the following:

• Consumer products volume increased 1% in the quarter, primarily due to higher West Coast imports;
• agriculture and energy products volume increased 12% due to higher demand; 
• industrial products volume decreased 1% due to lower shipments of plastics and a softer housing market; and
• coal volume declined 2% due to plant retirements, partially offset by increased demand from higher natural gas prices.

In terms of revenue by commodity segment, consumer products revenue was flat at $2 billion; agriculture and energy products revenue jumped 15% to $1.8 billion; industrial products revenue rose 2% to $1.2 billion and coal revenue inched up 1% to $742 million.

Operating expenses increased 1% to $3.9 billion, primarily because of an 11% increase in materials and other expenses and higher casualty related spend, BNSF officials said.