Norfolk Southern Corporation

Greetings and welcome to the Norfolk Southern Corporation third quarter 2021 earnings call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce Megan Akimasi, Senior Director of Investor Relations. Thank you. Ms. Akimasi. Thank you. Please go ahead.

Thank you and good morning, everyone. Please note that during today's call, we will make certain forward-looking statements which are subject to risks and uncertainties and may differ materially from actual results. Please refer to our annual and quarterly reports filed with the SEC for a full discussion of those risks and uncertainties we view as most important. Our presentation slides are available at nscorp.com in the Investors section, along with our reconciliation of non-GAAP measures used today to the comparable GAAP measures. Along those lines, recall that in the third quarter of 2020, we recorded an impairment charge of $99 million related to an equity method investment, so we will speak to the quarterly results excluding that charge. A full transcript and download will be posted after the call. It is now my pleasure to introduce Norfolk Southern's Chairman, President, and CEO, Jim Squires.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Norfolk Southern's third quarter 2021 earnings call. Joining me today are Cindy Sanborn, Chief Operating Officer, Alan Shaw, Chief Marketing Officer, and Mark George, Chief Financial Officer. Our third quarter results reflect a strong performance from the team. as we delivered third quarter records for operating ratio, net income, income from railway operations, and earnings per share. While volume held steady with last year, revenue grew an impressive 14%. And our 60.2% operating ratio reflects a 230-point improvement on a year-over-year adjusted basis, our second best OR performance ever, outpaced only by last quarter's 58.3% mark. In the midst of significant supply chain disruptions and labor shortages across the country, we're delivering upon our commitments. And we could not have achieved those milestones without the tireless work of our employees who, day in and day out, keep our customers' goods moving safely and efficiently. To our employees, thank you for your efforts to keep our economy moving. Now let's turn to Cindy to go through our operations. Cindy?