CSX CORP

The following section generally discusses the Company's results of operations and financial condition for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared to the year ended December 31, 2022. A discussion regarding results of operations and financial condition for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, can be found in Part II, Item 7 of CSX's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended 2022, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 15, 2023.

2023 vs. 2022 Results of Operations

CSX 2023 Form 10-K p.28

CSX 2023 Form 10-K p.29

Revenue

Total revenue decreased by $196 million in 2023, or 1%, when compared to the previous year primarily due to decreases in other revenue, lower fuel recovery, pricing declines in export coal due to the impact of lower benchmark rates and declines in intermodal volume. These declines were partially offset by pricing and volume gains in merchandise and higher coal volumes.

Merchandise Volume

Chemicals - Increased shipments of export plastics, waste, and sand were offset by lower shipments of materials used in making plastics.

Agricultural and Food Products – Decreased primarily due to lower shipments of ethanol and export grain.

Automotive - Increased due to higher North American vehicle production as well as new business wins.

Minerals - Increased due to higher shipments of aggregates and cement driven by increased road construction and other infrastructure-related activities.

Metals and Equipment - Increased due to higher steel and scrap shipments, as well as stronger equipment shipments.

Forest Products – Decreased primarily due to lower shipments of pulpboard, paper, and lumber, partially offset by higher shipments of other building products.

Fertilizers - Decreased due to declines in short-haul shipments, which were partially offset by increases in long-haul potash and phosphate shipments.

Intermodal Volume

Lower volume was due to decreased international shipments driven by high inventory levels and lower imports. Domestic shipments increased due to growth with key customers as well as the prior year impact of supply-side constraints.

Coal Volume

Export coal increased due to higher shipments of metallurgical and thermal coal. Domestic coal decreased due to lower shipments of coal to northern utility plants.

Trucking Revenue

Trucking revenue decreased $84 million versus the prior year due to lower fuel and capacity surcharges.

Other Revenue

Other revenue was $330 million lower, primarily resulting from lower intermodal storage and equipment usage.

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Expense

In 2023, total expenses increased $266 million, or 3%, compared to prior year. Descriptions of each expense category as well as significant year-over-year changes are described below.

Labor and Fringe expenses include employee wages and related payroll taxes, health and welfare costs, pension, other post-retirement benefits and incentive compensation. These expenses increased $163 million due to the following items:

•An increase of $144 million was driven by inflation.

•An increase of $89 million was due to the impacts of higher headcount and union employee vacation and sick benefits.

•Incentive compensation costs decreased $34 million primarily due to lower expected payouts as well as the impacts of accelerated expense for eligible employees in the prior year.

•Prior year amounts included $32 million of out-of-period labor and benefit costs due to the agreement reached with labor unions.

•Other costs decreased by $4 million due to non-significant items.

Purchased Services and Other expenses consist primarily of contracted services to maintain infrastructure and equipment, terminal and pier services, purchased trucking and other transportation, and professional services. This category also includes costs related to materials, travel, casualty claims, environmental remediation, train accidents, property and sales tax, utilities and other items. Total purchased services and other expenses increased $79 million driven by the following:

•An increase of $101 million was due to higher operating support costs, which were primarily due to inflation and higher repair and maintenance costs. These increases were partially offset by lower volume and reduced congestion in intermodal operations.

•A decrease of $54 million was due to insurance recoveries in the current year.

•All other costs increased $32 million as higher technology spending, inflation and other increases were partially offset by lower trucking expenses and other non-significant items.

Depreciation expense primarily relates to recognizing the costs of capital assets, such as locomotives, railcars and track structure, over their respective useful lives, which are reviewed periodically as part of depreciation studies. This expense is impacted primarily by the capital expenditures made each year. Depreciation expense increased $111 million primarily due to the impacts of a 2022 equipment depreciation study as well as a larger net asset base.

Fuel expense includes locomotive diesel fuel as well as non-locomotive fuel. This expense is largely driven by the market price and locomotive consumption of diesel fuel. Fuel expense decreased $249 million primarily due to a 19% decrease in locomotive fuel prices, partially offset by higher fuel consumption.

Equipment and Other Rents expense includes rent paid for freight cars owned by other railroads or private companies, net of rents received by CSXT for use of its equipment. This category of expenses also includes expenses for short-term and long-term leases of locomotives, railcars, containers, tractors and trailers, offices and other rentals. These expenses decreased $42 million primarily due to lower car hire costs from improved car cycle times, partially offset by costs related to higher automotive volume.

Gains on Property Dispositions decreased to $34 million in 2023 from $238 million in 2022 primarily due to the inclusion of $144 million of gains in 2022 from the sale of property rights to the Commonwealth of Virginia.

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Interest Expense

Interest Expense includes interest on long-term debt and related fair value hedges, equipment obligations and finance leases. Interest expense increased $67 million primarily as a result of higher average debt balances and higher effective interest rates.

Other Income - Net

Other Income - Net includes investment gains, losses, interest income, components of net periodic pension and post-retirement benefit cost and other non-operating activities. Other income increased $6 million primarily due to higher interest income and other non-significant items, partially offset by a decrease in net pension benefit credits.

Income Tax Expense

Income Tax Expense decreased $72 million primarily due to lower earnings before income taxes, partially offset by prior year favorable state legislative changes.

Net Earnings and Earnings per Diluted Share

Net Earnings decreased $451 million to $3.7 billion, and earnings per diluted share decreased $0.10 to $1.85, due to the factors mentioned above. Average shares outstanding was lower as a result of share repurchase activity during the year and had a favorable impact on earnings per diluted share.

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NON-GAAP MEASURES(Unaudited)

CSX reports its financial results in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"). CSX also uses certain non-GAAP measures that fall within the meaning of Securities and Exchange Commission Regulation G and Regulation S-K Item 10(e), which may provide users of the financial information with additional meaningful comparison to prior reported results. Non-GAAP measures do not have standardized definitions and are not defined by GAAP. Therefore, CSX’s non-GAAP measures are unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. The presentation of these non-GAAP measures should not be considered in isolation from, as a substitute for, or as superior to the financial information presented in accordance with GAAP. Reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to corresponding GAAP measures are below.

Economic Profit

Management believes Economic Profit (CSX Cash Earnings or CCE) provides additional perspective to investors about financial returns generated by the business by representing a profit generated over and above the cost of capital used by the business to generate that profit. Economic Profit is designed to incentivize strategic investments that earn more than the required return. Increases in Economic Profit indicate that the Company is effectively allocating capital and rewarding shareholders by generating growth in excess of the incremental cost of capital associated with reinvestment in the business. This measure should be considered in addition to, rather than a substitute for, net income. This measure is defined by the Company as gross cash earnings minus the capital charge on gross operating assets. Gross cash earnings is calculated as Adjusted Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization ("Adjusted EBITDA"), less an assumed 15% cash tax. The capital charge uses a long-term average cost of capital of 8% multiplied by the gross operating assets. CSX's gross operating assets include gross properties and other non-cash assets, net of non-interest bearing liabilities.

The following table reconciles net income (GAAP measure) to Economic Profit (non-GAAP measure).

(a) Unusual items are defined by management as unique events with greater than $100 million full year operating income impact, consistent with the terms of the Company's long-term incentive plan agreements. Gains from the Virginia transaction of $144 million were excluded for 2022.

(b) Gross operating assets reflects an average of reported balance sheet figures.

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Free Cash Flow

Management believes free cash flow is useful to investors as it is important in evaluating the Company’s financial performance. More specifically, free cash flow measures cash generated by the business after reinvestment. This measure represents cash available for both equity and bond investors to be used for dividends, share repurchases or principal reduction on outstanding debt. Free cash flow is calculated by using net cash from operations and adjusting for property additions and proceeds from property dispositions. This measure should be considered in addition to, rather than a substitute for, cash provided by operating activities. Free cash flow before dividends decreased $412 million year-over-year to $3.3 billion primarily due to lower proceeds and advances from property dispositions, mostly attributable to the sale of property rights to the Commonwealth of Virginia in the prior year, as well as higher property additions and less cash from operating activities. Cash from operating activities includes lower cash-generating net earnings and the impact of $168 million of higher payments for retroactive wages and bonuses, and associated taxes, related to finalized labor agreements as well as the offsetting impact of $381 million of postponed federal estimated tax payments, which were extended until first quarter 2024 under an Internal Revenue Service tax relief announcement for those impacted by Hurricane Idalia.

The following table reconciles cash provided by operating activities (GAAP measure) to free cash flow (non-GAAP measure).

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OPERATING STATISTICS(Estimated)

Certain operating statistics are estimated and can continue to be updated as actuals settle. The methodology for calculating train velocity, dwell, cars online and trip plan performance differs from that used by the Surface Transportation Board. The Company will continue to report these metrics to the Surface Transportation Board using the prescribed methodology.

(a) Beginning second quarter 2023, all operations performance metrics include results from the network acquired from Pan Am. The impact of including Pan Am data was insignificant.

(b) Safety metrics do not include results from the network acquired from Pan Am. These metrics will be updated to include the Pan Am network results as integration completes.

Key Performance Measures Definitions:

Train Velocity - Average train speed between origin and destination in miles per hour (does not include locals, yard jobs, work trains or passenger trains). Train velocity measures actual train miles and times of a train movement on CSX's network.

Dwell - Average amount of time in hours between car arrival to and departure from the yard.

Cars Online - Average number of active freight rail cars on lines operated by CSX, excluding rail cars that are being repaired, in storage, those that have been sold, or private cars dwelling at a customer location more than one day.

On-Time Origina tions - Percent of scheduled road trains that depart the origin yard on-time or ahead of schedule.

On-Time Arrivals - Percent of scheduled road trains that arrive at the destination yard on-time to within two hours of scheduled arrival.

Carload Trip Plan Performance - Percent of measured cars (excludes unit trains and other non-scheduled service as well as empty automotive shipments) destined for a customer that complete their scheduled plan at or ahead of the original estimated time of arrival or interchange (as applicable).

Intermodal Trip Plan Performance - Percent of measured containers (excludes port shipments along with empty containers and other non-scheduled service) destined for a customer that complete their scheduled plan at or ahead of the original estimated time of arrival, notification or interchange (as applicable).

Fuel Efficiency - Gallons of locomotive fuel per 1,000 gross ton-miles.

Revenue Ton-Miles (RTM's) - The movement of one revenue-producing ton of freight over a distance of one mile.

Gross Ton-Miles (GTM's) - The movement of one ton of train weight over one mile. GTM's are calculated by multiplying total train weight by distance the train moved. Total train weight is comprised of the weight of the freight cars and their contents.

FRA Personal Injury Frequency Index - Number of FRA-reportable injuries per 200,000 man-hours.

FRA Train Accident Rate - Number of FRA-reportable train accidents per million train-miles.

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The Company is committed to continuous improvement in safety and service performance through training, innovation and investment. Training and safety programs are designed to prevent incidents that can adversely impact employees, customers and communities. Technological innovations that can detect and avoid many types of human factor incidents are designed to serve as an additional layer of protection for the Company's employees. Continued capital investment in the Company's assets, including track, bridges, signals, equipment and detection technology also supports safety performance.

The Company remains focused on safety, service, and controlling costs. Velocity and dwell improved 12% and 17%, respectively, relative to 2022. Carload trip plan performance improved to 84% compared to 64% while intermodal trip plan performance improved to 95% compared to 90%, relative to 2022. CSX has seen an improvement in service metrics throughout 2023.

From a safety perspective, the FRA personal injury index improved by 12% and the train-accident rate improved by 1% compared to prior year. Safety is a guiding principle at CSX and the Company remains focused on its strong safety culture, including instilling the importance of safety in new hires. CSX is committed to reducing risk and enhancing the overall safety of its employees, customers and communities in which the Company operates.