Norfolk Southern Corporation

Greetings and welcome to the Norfolk Southern Corporation's second quarter 2022 earnings call. At this time, all participants are in 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 from your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce Luke Nichols, Senior Director of Investor Relations. Thank you, Mr. Nichols. You may now begin.

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 investor section, along with a reconciliation of non-GAAP measures used today to comparable GAAP measures. A full transcript and download will be posted after the call. Turning to slide three, it's now my pleasure to introduce Norfolk Southern's President and Chief Executive Officer, Alan Shaw.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Norfolk Southern's second quarter 2022 earnings call. I am joined today by Cindy Sanborn, Chief Operating Officer, Ed Elkins, Chief Marketing Officer, and Mark George, Chief Financial Officer. In the second quarter, we stabilized service levels, expanded our pipeline of conductor trainees, and launched the next evolution of our operating plan, Top SPG, with our signature no surprises approach. Service is not yet where we want it to be, but I am encouraged by our progress and inspired by the commitment and shared vision of our talented team. I am privileged to spend a lot of time in the field with our hardworking craft employees and operations supervisors. I see firsthand and sincerely appreciate their daily dedication to serving our customers. We are eager to reach an agreement that keeps our people among the highest paid craft workers of any industry and recognizes their essential service to our customers, our company, and the U.S. economy. Moving to slide four, thanks to the combined efforts of our team, we delivered solid financial performance in the second quarter with record revenue and earnings per share. Revenue increased 16% with a 20% increase in revenue per unit more than offset a 3% volume decline. Expenses grew by 21% year over year due primarily to higher fuel prices. Operating ratio was up 260 basis points versus last year's quarterly record. Comparisons were adversely impacted by the absence of a large property sale we called out last year, as well as fuel price headwinds. Despite these headwinds, EPS improved by 5% to $3.45 per share, a second quarter record. The steps we are taking today to restore service and implement our new top SPG operating plan are making Norfolk Southern a more customer-centric, operations-driven organization that will deliver long-term value for our customers and shareholders. Our top SPG operating plan is part of the equation for improving service. We named this iteration SPG because it creates a platform for consistent service continuous productivity improvement, and smart growth for our customers, Norfolk Southern, and our shareholders. There is no doubt we have an enviable value proposition to compete in today's logistics marketplace and where markets are headed. At the conclusion of our prepared remarks, I'll share a few insights on how we will unlock that value. I'll now turn the discussion to Cindy for an update on operations and a detailed look at how our company is aligned around restoring service and creating a safe, efficient, and reliable product that meets our customers' needs and supports their growth. Cindy?