Major Railroads Post Mixed Results

Major railroad companies reported contrasting results, as Norfolk Southern said its second-quarter earnings rose 3.1% to a record $143 million and Burlington Northern reported a $785.4-million loss caused by a big one-time charge.

Burlington, a diversified company based in Seattle whose railroad is the nation’s largest, announced earlier this month that it was taking a $1.9-billion pretax charge against earnings because of writedowns on assets and changes in accounting methods.

The company took $990 million of the charge in the second quarter. The rest was applied to previous quarters, whose results were restated.

Burlington said it had operating income of $165.7 million before taking the one-time charge into account, down from operating income of $296.6 million a year earlier.

The net loss of $785.4 million contrasted with a net profit of $137.5 million a year earlier. Revenue fell 20% to $1.68 billion from $2.09 billion.

Norfolk Southern, based in Norfolk, Va., said its earnings were the highest since it was created in June, 1982, through the merger of Norfolk & Western Railway Co. and Southern Railway Co.