CSX Corporation

Good afternoon. My name is Emma, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Q1 2022 CSX Corporation Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number 1 on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, again, press the star 1. Thank you. Matthew Korn, CSX Head of Investor Relations, you may begin your conference.

Thank you, Emma. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome. Joining me on today's call are Jim Foote, President and Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Boone, Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Jamie Boychuk, Executive Vice President of Operations, and Sean Pelkey, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Now, in our presentation, you will find our forward-looking disclosure on slide two, followed by our non-GAAP disclosure on slide three. And with that, it's my pleasure to introduce our President and Chief Executive Officer, Jim Foote.

Great. Thank you, Matthew, and thank you to everyone for again joining us on our call today. I'll begin by expressing my thanks to all of CSX employees. who continue to put in tremendous efforts to serve our customers effectively and above all, safely. I'd also like to welcome today Steve Fortune, who's with us in the room here today in Jacksonville. Steve serves in a newly created role of Executive Vice President and Chief Digital and Technology Officer. and will focus on harnessing transformative technologies to further growth and enable continued efficiency across the business. His experience leading technology organizations at a global industrial company will be very helpful as we continue to transform CSX. Now moving to the quarter. We are pleased with our results this quarter, though we're not yet satisfied with our service performance. The effects of COVID and severe weather across much of our network clearly led to a tough start to the year. But as we moved into March, operating conditions began to gradually improve, and we do see indications that this momentum is continuing. For over a year, we have communicated to you that the key to rebuilding our service to pre-pandemic levels is to hire more trained and engine service employees. I am pleased to say that our efforts there are progressing well, and our active T&E count has moved steadily higher this year. The people and resources that we are putting in place today will allow us to provide reliable, efficient service to an expanding number of customers. The business environment remains very favorable for CSX, despite new uncertainties across global supply chains. We are dedicated to do our part to help our customers here in North America meet increasing demand as business and consumers around the world look for reliable sources of the products that we transport. Meanwhile, domestic activity remains robust, and our business development and marketing groups are working hard to convert new opportunities. And as higher energy prices and increasing scrutiny on greenhouse gas emissions highlight rail's efficiency advantages over trucks, we're in a great position. If we all do our jobs hold to our principles and deliver the service levels that we know we can achieve this company has great potential for many years ahead lastly i'd like to know that we are pleased that the surface transportation board approved our acquisition of pan am railways which clears the way for the transaction to close this june All of us are excited about the opportunities that will come as we design new service solutions for shippers and receivers in New England. Now let's turn to slide four. Turning to the presentation, which highlights our key financial results, we moved nearly 1.5 million carloads in the first quarter and generated over $3.4 billion in revenues. Operating income increased by 16 percent to $1.28 billion. The operating ratio increased by 150 basis points to 62.4. But remember, this rate includes approximately 250 basis points of impact from quality carriers and the impact of higher fuel prices. And earnings per share increased 26 percent to 39 cents a share. I'll now turn it over to Kevin, Jamie, and Sean for details.