BNSF railway's quarterly profit up 73pc on back of asset sale

BURLINGTON Northern Santa Fe (BNSF), the US west coast railway operator, has achieved a 73 per cent jump in first quarter net profit to reach US$506 million.

The strong earnings result was attributed to the sale of a short line to the Port of Seattle that added US$73 million to its coffers, reported London's Containerisation International. Top line revenue rose by 12 per cent to $3.9 billion.

Operating income increased by 47 per cent compared to the first quarter of 2009 to $990 million, with a return on sales of 25 per cent.

The railway operator's SEC filing shows that the consumer division's traffic, which includes intermodal, fell by 2.2 per cent to 955,000 units, however, stronger pricing raised its average revenue per car by 6.7 per cent to $1,149.

Source: www.schednet.com