Norfolk Southern’s 3rd-quarter profit rises 4%

Norfolk Southern’s 3rd-quarter profit rises 4%    Norfolk Southern Corp. said Wednesday that a “record-setting two million carloads of traffic” pushed its third quarter net income up 4 percent to $301 million, from $288 million for the year-earlier period.
   Norfolk Southern’s income from railway operations was $528 million, a 13 percent increase compared to $469 million in the third quarter last year. Operating revenues increased 16 percent to $2.15 billion from $1.85 billion.
   For the first nine months, net income was a record $919 million, an increase of 39 percent compared with $659 million during the same period a year earlier. Income from railway operations was $1.52 billion, up 23 percent over the $1.24 billion recorded after the first nine months in 2004. Railway operating revenues increasing 17 percent to $6.27 billion from $5.36 billion.