CSX Corporation (CSX) 2022 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. My name is Brent, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the CSX Corporation Third Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions)

各位女士、先生，感謝您稍候。我叫 Brent，今天將擔任本次電話會議的接線員。此刻，我謹代表主辦方歡迎各位參加 CSX Corporation 2022 年第三季財報電話會議。（接線員指示）

It is now my pleasure to turn today's call over to Mr. Matthew Korn, Head of Investor Relations.

現在我很榮幸將今天的電話會議交給投資人關係主管 Matthew Korn 先生。

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to our third quarter call.

謝謝，接線員。各位下午好，歡迎參加我們的第三季電話會議。

Joining me on today's call are Joe Hinrichs, President and Chief Executive Officer; Jim Foote, our outgoing President and Chief Executive Officer; Kevin Boone, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing; Jamie Boychuk, Executive Vice President of Operations; and Sean Pelkey, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

今天與我一同出席電話會議的有：總裁暨執行長 Joe Hinrichs；即將卸任的總裁暨執行長 Jim Foote；銷售與行銷執行副總裁 Kevin Boone；營運執行副總裁 Jamie Boychuk；以及執行副總裁兼財務長 Sean Pelkey。

In our earnings presentation, you will find our forward-looking disclosure on Slide 2, followed by our non-GAAP disclosure on Slide 3.

在我們的財報簡報中，您可在第 2 頁投影片看到前瞻性聲明揭露，接著在第 3 頁投影片看到非 GAAP 揭露。

And with that, it's my pleasure to introduce our President and Chief Executive Officer, Joe Hinrichs.

接下來，我很高興介紹我們的總裁暨執行長 Joe Hinrichs。

All right. Thank you, Matthew, and hello, everyone, and thank you for joining our conference call.

好的。謝謝你，Matthew。各位好，也感謝各位參加我們的電話會議。

I'm excited to be here with you today on my first earnings call as President and CEO of CSX. The entire CSX leadership team is here with me this afternoon, and we appreciate the opportunity to discuss our strong third quarter results with you.

我很高興今天能以 CSX 總裁暨執行長的身分，首次與各位進行財報電話會議。今天下午 CSX 的整個領導團隊都與我同在，我們也很感謝有機會與各位討論我們強勁的第三季業績。

Our whole team is very motivated to build on our current momentum, strengthen our key relationships, provide better service to our customers and deliver profitable growth for years to come. We will achieve this through our ONE CSX culture, which at its core means one team working together to serve all our key stakeholders.

我們整個團隊都非常有動力在目前的動能基礎上再接再厲，強化關鍵關係、為客戶提供更好的服務，並在未來多年實現獲利成長。我們將透過 ONE CSX 文化來達成這些目標；其核心意涵是：一個團隊共同合作，服務所有關鍵利害關係人。

As Matthew mentioned, also joining us on tonight's call is Jim Foote, who as you all know, led this company through its remarkable -- remarkably successful transformation over these last 5 years. Jim cares deeply about this railroad and its employees, and he has already been a great resource during my first several weeks in this role. I'll be happy to have his invaluable advice in the months ahead, and I want to thank him for all the help you have given me personally as I get the privilege to follow him.

如 Matthew 所提到的，今晚也有 Jim Foote 與我們一同參與電話會議。各位都知道，過去 5 年 Jim 帶領公司完成了令人矚目——而且極為成功的轉型。Jim 對這條鐵路及其員工投入深厚情感，在我上任的前幾週，他已經成為非常重要的資源。未來幾個月我也很高興能持續獲得他寶貴的建議；同時也要感謝你在我有幸接棒之際，對我個人的所有協助。

Jim, on behalf of everyone here at CSX, thank you.

Jim，我代表 CSX 在座各位，謝謝你。

Thanks, Joe.

謝謝你，Joe。

As I have said on every earnings call since I took over as CEO 5 years ago, I am incredibly proud of every CSX employee who has been by my side as we transformed this organization into the best railroad in North America. A company that's safer, more efficient, more profitable and far more successful than when we started. I have the utmost confidence that Joe and this team will take this organization to even higher levels of success.

正如我自 5 年前接任執行長以來在每次財報電話會議上所說的，我對每一位與我並肩作戰、協助我們將這個組織轉型為北美最佳鐵路公司的 CSX 員工都感到無比自豪。如今的公司更安全、更有效率、更具獲利能力，也比我們起步時成功得多。我對 Joe 與這個團隊充滿信心，相信他們會帶領組織邁向更高層次的成功。

This transition process has been underway for a long time. It was critically important that the Board and I ensure that a succession plan was in place when the right time came. Having seen CSX through the initial phases of our transformation, pass some unusual, to say the least, challenges, and now with our operating performance starting to get back to normal, it's the right time for me to step away.

這次交接流程已經進行很長一段時間。董事會與我必須確保在適當時機到來時，接班計畫已經就緒。在帶領 CSX 度過轉型初期、並經歷一些至少可以說是相當不尋常的挑戰之後，如今我們的營運表現也開始回到常態，對我而言，現在是退下來的合適時機。

Joe is a great guy. He is very talented, and he brings a tremendous amount of operations experience in running a large, complicated industrial company. His years working with a diverse unionized workforce will clearly serve him very well.

Joe 是個很棒的人。他非常有才華，並且在經營一家大型、複雜的工業公司方面擁有豐富的營運經驗。他多年與多元的工會化勞動力共事的經歷，顯然也將對他大有助益。

It's truly been an honor to serve as President and CEO of CSX, and I wish all of you and everyone connected to this railroad the best.

能擔任 CSX 的總裁暨執行長是一項真正的榮耀，我也祝福各位以及所有與這條鐵路相關的人一切順利。

And now back to Joe.

現在把時間交還給 Joe。

Thanks, Jim. I promise you this team won't let you down.

謝謝你，Jim。我向你保證，這個團隊不會讓你失望。

I am honored to be here on behalf of the entire CSX team. I've spent the last month traveling all across the network, visiting our facilities and meeting with our customers, our employees, union leaders, regulatory partners and government officials. At this point, I can tell you 2 things for certain.

我很榮幸能代表整個 CSX 團隊站在這裡。過去一個月我走訪整個路網，參觀我們的設施，並與客戶、員工、工會領袖、監管夥伴以及政府官員會面。到目前為止，我可以很確定地告訴各位兩件事。

First, this is a fantastic railroad. Our people and our infrastructure are second to none. And the principles of scheduled railroading that drive our successful, resilient operating model are deeply embedded throughout the company. I knew that CSX was a very impressive place when I started, did not appreciate how impressive it really is until I saw for myself how this team of skilled, dedicated men and women work together to move thousands of box cars and containers for our customers each and every day.

第一，這是一條非常出色的鐵路。我們的人才與基礎設施無與倫比。而推動我們成功且具韌性的營運模式之「定期化鐵路營運」原則，已深深扎根於公司各處。我在加入時就知道 CSX 非常令人印象深刻，但直到親眼看到這群技術純熟、敬業投入的男男女女如何每天齊心協力，為客戶運送數以千計的貨車與貨櫃，我才真正體會到它有多麼出色。

Second, for as much as this company has achieved over its transformation during the last several years, there is still so much more that CSX can do. Rail is a low-cost freight solution. Rail is a freight solution with low emissions. Manufacturing investment in the United States is accelerating. We have great advantages in this market, and our customers should have every reason to ship more by CSX rail, but we have to focus our efforts to make this happen. We have to make it easier for our customers to use our service. We have to provide better service to our customers. We have to engage with all of our employees, especially those out in the field serving our customers every day to ensure that we deliver the reliability that we promise. And we have to challenge ourselves to nurture the kind of culture that fosters a nimble, creative and market-leading company while staying true to the operational discipline that makes this all possible.

第二，儘管公司在過去幾年的轉型中已取得許多成就，CSX 仍然還有非常多可以做的事。鐵路是一種低成本的貨運解決方案；鐵路也是一種低排放的貨運解決方案。美國的製造業投資正在加速。我們在這個市場具備很大的優勢，客戶也應該有充分理由增加使用 CSX 鐵路運輸，但我們必須聚焦努力才能讓這件事發生。我們必須讓客戶更容易使用我們的服務；必須為客戶提供更好的服務；必須與所有員工互動，尤其是那些每天在第一線服務客戶的同仁，以確保我們交付所承諾的可靠性。同時，我們也必須挑戰自己，培養一種能孕育敏捷、創新且市場領先公司的文化，同時忠於使這一切成為可能的營運紀律。

The concept of ONE CSX as one team working together to accomplish great things can be very powerful. We have to bring ONE CSX to life. We'll talk more about that in a few minutes. But now let's turn to our presentation to review the financial highlights for the third quarter of 2022.

ONE CSX 的概念——作為一個團隊共同合作以完成偉大目標——可以非常有力量。我們必須讓 ONE CSX 真正落地。我們稍後會再多談一些。不過現在先回到簡報，檢視 2022 年第三季的財務重點。

CSX moved nearly 1.6 million carloads in the third quarter and generated approximately $3.9 billion in revenue. Operating income increased 10% year-over-year to $1.6 billion, which includes the effect of additional labor and fringe expense related to the tentative agreements reached with our unions last month. Results this quarter also reflected lower real estate gains compared to last year. Earnings per share increased 21% to $0.52 a share. Our operating ratio for the quarter was 59.5%.

CSX 在第三季運送了接近 160 萬車次（carloads），並創造約 39 億美元營收。營業利益年增 10% 至 16 億美元，其中包含上月與工會達成暫定協議所帶來的額外勞工與附加福利費用影響。本季結果也反映出相較去年較低的不動產處分利益。每股盈餘年增 21% 至每股 0.52 美元。本季營業比率為 59.5%。

Now let me turn it over to Kevin, Jamie and Sean for the details.

接下來我把時間交給 Kevin、Jamie 與 Sean 說明細節。

Thank you, Joe.

謝謝你，Joe。

Turning to Slide 5. Third quarter revenue increased 18% year-over-year, with revenue growth across all markets. Overall volumes were up 2% as modest volume growth in merchandise and intermodal more than offset a minor decline in coal.

請看第 5 頁投影片。第三季營收年增 18%，各市場皆呈現營收成長。整體運量年增 2%，其中一般貨運（merchandise）與聯運（intermodal）的溫和成長，足以抵銷煤炭的小幅下滑。

Merchandise revenue increased 14% on 1% higher volumes, driven by pricing that reflects rising cost inflation and higher fuel surcharge revenue.

一般貨運營收在運量年增 1% 的情況下成長 14%，主要受惠於反映成本通膨上升的定價，以及較高的燃油附加費收入。

We saw strength in the automotive market, where revenues rose 31% on 13% higher volume. Semiconductor challenges continue to ease and we see significant finished vehicle inventory that needs to move. Ag and food was also a bright spot as improving cycle times as well as stronger demand for grain, wheat and ethanol resulted in revenue growth of 25% on 10% higher volume in the quarter.

汽車市場表現強勁，營收在運量年增 13% 的帶動下上升 31%。半導體供應挑戰持續緩解，我們也看到大量需要運輸的成車庫存。農業與食品同樣是一大亮點，隨著週轉時間改善，以及穀物、小麥與乙醇需求轉強，本季營收在運量年增 10% 的情況下成長 25%。

Fertilizers and metals and equipment both saw modest revenue growth despite volume declines in the quarter. Fertilizer shipments continue to be impacted by reduced phosphate shipments and production facility turnarounds. Lower metals and equipment shipments reflect volatile commodity pricing and mill maintenance outages.

肥料以及金屬與設備兩個品類在本季運量下滑的情況下，營收仍呈現溫和成長。肥料出貨持續受到磷酸鹽出貨減少與生產設施歲修／停機檢修的影響。金屬與設備出貨下降則反映大宗商品價格波動，以及鋼廠維修停工。

Intermodal revenue increased 19% on 2% higher volume, as yields remained strong and supported by high fuel prices. International shipments were partially offset by lower domestic volumes, which reflected tight equipment availability and softer truck market. Intermodal demand remained strong in the quarter, with the team continuing to collaborate with customers and identify new opportunities including a new international service line that contributed to growth. Customers continue to recognize our industry-leading service products in a challenging market as they seek lower cost and lower emission alternatives to truck.

聯運營收在運量年增 2% 的情況下成長 19%，因單位收益（yields）維持強勁，並受高油價支撐。國際貨量部分被國內運量下滑所抵銷，後者反映設備供給吃緊以及卡車市場轉弱。本季聯運需求仍然強勁，團隊持續與客戶協作並發掘新機會，包括一條新的國際服務線路，對成長有所貢獻。在充滿挑戰的市場環境下，客戶在尋求相較卡車更低成本、低排放的替代方案時，仍持續肯定我們業界領先的服務產品。

Coal revenue increased 36% on 2% lower volume as pricing continues to benefit from strong export benchmarks. Volumes remain limited in the quarter due to production issues at the mine, infrastructure constraints at the export terminals and general manpower shortages, though our crew availability did show improvement into the end of the quarter.

煤炭營收在運量年減 2% 的情況下成長 36%，因定價持續受惠於強勁的出口基準價格。本季運量仍受限於礦區生產問題、出口碼頭的基礎設施限制，以及整體人力短缺；不過我們的乘務員可用性在季末確實有所改善。

We were also able to reopen portions of our Curtis Bay terminal in September, which provides additional volume opportunities as operations normalize. Demand remains strong and we see opportunities to move more volume as some of these constraints ease.

我們也在 9 月重新開放 Curtis Bay 碼頭的部分區域，隨著營運回歸常態，這將帶來額外的運量機會。需求仍然強勁，隨著部分限制逐步緩解，我們看到運送更多運量的機會。

Trucking revenue increased 26%, mainly due to strong core pricing and higher fuel recovery. Other revenue increased largely due to higher intermodal storage and equipment usage fees. The strong sequential increase was driven by continued limited warehouse capacity at customer sites.

卡車運輸營收成長 26%，主要來自核心定價強勁以及較高的燃油回收。其他營收增加主要是因聯運倉儲與設備使用費提高。強勁的季比增幅則是由客戶端倉庫容量持續受限所驅動。

Looking forward, there is obvious macroeconomic uncertainty as the Fed remains committed to raising rates and addressing high inflation. Given this backdrop, the team is highly focused on its efforts to drive strategic growth opportunities that target truck and expand CSX's addressable market.

展望未來，隨著聯準會仍致力於升息並處理高通膨，宏觀經濟不確定性顯而易見。在此背景下，團隊將高度聚焦於推動策略性成長機會，鎖定卡車貨源並擴大 CSX 可服務的市場範圍。

As you've seen, our select site program continues to facilitate new customer partnerships. Last month, a key emerging domestic lithium supplier for the EV and battery markets announced the construction of a $600 million refining and manufacturing facility on a CSX serve site in Tennessee. We also have several other potential projects in various stages of development. We continue to see customers investing in new projects across our network.

如您所見，我們的精選場址（select site）計畫持續促成新的客戶合作關係。上個月，一家面向電動車與電池市場的關鍵新興美國本土鋰供應商宣布，將在田納西州一處由 CSX 服務的場址上興建一座投資 6 億美元的精煉與製造設施。我們也有數個其他潛在專案正處於不同的開發階段。我們持續看到客戶在我們的網路各地投資新專案。

We're also moving forward with efforts to facilitate ESG solutions for our customers. Before year-end, we will be releasing an updated version of our carbon calculator that is integrated within our ShipCSX interface. This new calculator will enable customers to drive into much deeper detail and understand in real time the environmental benefits that CSX rail can provide.

我們也正推進協助客戶落實 ESG 解決方案的工作。在年底前，我們將發布更新版本的碳排計算器，並整合至我們的 ShipCSX 介面中。這個新的計算器將使客戶能夠深入到更細緻的層級，並即時了解 CSX 鐵路所能提供的環境效益。

Finally, we are also encouraged that service performance is on an upward trend, and we expect to turn this positive momentum into additional opportunities with customers.

最後，我們也很受鼓舞地看到服務表現呈現上升趨勢，並預期能將這股正向動能轉化為與客戶之間更多的合作機會。

I will now turn it over to Jamie to discuss operations.

接下來我把時間交給 Jamie，請他談談營運。

Thanks, Kevin.

謝謝你，Kevin。

Safety remains our top priority at CSX and operating safely is the foundation to our service restoration efforts. In the third quarter, our personal injury rate and train accident rate decreased sequentially. Though we are not satisfied with our performance, I'm encouraged by our success, especially given the number of new employees across the network.

在 CSX，安全仍是我們的首要任務，而安全營運是我們服務復原工作的基礎。第三季，我們的人身傷害率與列車事故率較前一季下降。雖然我們對自身表現仍不滿意，但我對我們的成果感到鼓舞，尤其考量到整個網路中新進員工的人數。

As we mentioned last quarter, it is critically important to instill a culture of safety in our new T&E employees from day 1. That emphasis on safety does not end when new employees graduate from training. It requires continuous attention throughout every railroader's career. To reinforce this, we are actively engaging with new hires and all of our employees in the field to discuss recent injuries and accidents to ensure that we take each opportunity to learn from each other.

如同我們上季提到的，從第一天起就在新進 T&E 員工中建立安全文化至關重要。對安全的重視並不會在新進員工完成訓練畢業後就結束；它需要在每位鐵路員工的整個職涯中持續關注。為了強化這一點，我們正積極與新進人員以及現場所有員工互動，討論近期的傷害與事故，以確保我們把握每一次彼此學習的機會。

In the fourth quarter, our efforts will continue to focus on making sure our employees are protected from incidents that commonly occur as weather changes. Increased education and awareness of seasonal safety risks will help our team become safer.

在第四季，我們的努力將持續聚焦於確保員工能免於在天氣變化時常見的事故。加強對季節性安全風險的教育與認知，將有助於我們的團隊變得更安全。

Turning to Slide 7. We are encouraged by the recent improvement in our operational performance. These strong results are a testament to the ONE CSX team and their unrelenting devotion to serving our customers. If we only look at the third quarter averages, train velocity, dwell and carload trip plan performance all showed a deterioration versus the prior year, though intermodal trip plan compliance continued to improve 240 basis points. However, the right side of each chart of this slide shows the substantial improvements we have made throughout the quarter and continue into recent weeks.

接著看第 7 頁投影片。我們對近期營運表現的改善感到鼓舞。這些強勁成果證明了 ONE CSX 團隊以及他們對服務客戶的不懈投入。若僅看第三季平均值，列車速度、停留時間（dwell）與車載行程計畫（carload trip plan）表現相較去年皆有所惡化，儘管聯運（intermodal）行程計畫達成率仍改善了 240 個基點。然而，本頁投影片中每張圖表的右側顯示，我們在整個季度期間所取得的顯著改善，並延續到最近幾週。

As shown here, in the most recent full week performance, all of these 4 key operational measures are above the averages for the third quarter 2022. But they're also ahead of third quarter 2021 performance. We are confident that these metrics show that our efforts to hire, train and retain new employees are starting to take hold and make a difference for our customers.

如圖所示，在最近一個完整週的表現中，這 4 項關鍵營運指標皆高於 2022 年第三季的平均值，且也優於 2021 年第三季的表現。我們有信心，這些指標顯示我們在招募、訓練與留任新進員工方面的努力正開始發揮作用，並為客戶帶來差異。

Though we are encouraged by the operational momentum, we will not let up. We will continue to push forward and take actions necessary until service is fully restored to a level that our customers expect. We are promoting new conductors, allocating the appropriate number of assets and improving the overall reliability and operational resilience of our network.

儘管我們對營運動能感到鼓舞，但我們不會鬆懈。我們將持續推進並採取必要行動，直到服務完全恢復到客戶所期待的水準。我們正在晉升新的列車長（conductor）、配置適當數量的資產，並提升我們網路的整體可靠性與營運韌性。

Turning to Slide 8. In the third quarter, active T&E headcount reached the highest level since March 2020. Though the quarterly average shows a sequential increase of less than 100 employees, we exited the quarter with over 6,800 total. The hiring pipeline remains robust, and we averaged over 500 trainees again in the third quarter. We are determined to keep the pipeline full, allowing us to continue filling classes as we work towards our goal of 7,000 active T&E employees by year-end.

接著看第 8 頁投影片。第三季，現役 T&E 人數達到自 2020 年 3 月以來的最高水準。雖然季度平均值顯示較前一季增加不到 100 人，但我們在季末時總人數已超過 6,800 人。招募管道仍然強勁，第三季我們平均仍有超過 500 名受訓人員。我們決心保持管道充足，使我們能在朝年底達成 7,000 名現役 T&E 員工目標的過程中，持續開班補足人力。

Currently, we have over 700 employees in training and have additionally started locomotive engineer training. The number of conductors that finished training and marched up was down slightly in the third quarter as we cycled lower class sizes from earlier in the year. We anticipate this number to increase in the fourth quarter as the class sizes have remained elevated through the late spring and summer months.

目前，我們有超過 700 名員工正在受訓，並且也已啟動機車工程師（locomotive engineer）訓練。第三季完成訓練並正式上線的列車長人數略有下降，原因是我們消化了年初較小的班級規模。我們預期第四季該數字將增加，因為在晚春與夏季期間班級規模一直維持在較高水準。

Conductor promotions will continue to increase the active T&E headcount. Our efforts to minimize attrition that we highlighted in the last quarter are bearing fruit. New hire attrition in the preceding months have trended lower, and we believe our hiring initiatives and recent pay agreements for new conductors are a contributing factor.

列車長晉升將持續推升現役 T&E 人數。我們在上季強調的降低流失率努力已見成效。近幾個月新進人員流失率呈下降趨勢，我們認為我們的招募措施以及近期針對新列車長的薪酬協議是促成因素之一。

I will now hand it over to Sean to review the financial results.

接下來我把時間交給 Sean，請他回顧財務結果。

Thank you, Jamie, and good afternoon.

謝謝你，Jamie，大家下午好。

The favorable operating momentum Jamie discussed was accompanied by strong revenue growth of 18% or $600 million, including gains across all markets. Operating income was up 10% to $1.6 billion as topline gains outpaced expense headwinds from higher fuel costs, inflation, and tentative union agreement impacts that I will discuss in more detail on the next slide.

Jamie 所談到的有利營運動能，伴隨著強勁的營收成長：營收成長 18%，或 6 億美元，且各市場皆有成長。營業利益成長 10% 至 16 億美元，因為營收增幅超過了成本端的不利因素，包括燃料成本上升、通膨，以及我將在下一頁更詳細說明的暫定工會協議影響。

The operating ratio was 59.5%, which, as a reminder, includes roughly a 250 basis point ongoing impact from quality carriers. Interest and other expense was roughly flat as was income tax expense. The effective tax rate in the quarter was 21.9%, lower than our statutory rate as a result of a favorable state legislative change. As such, net earnings of $1.1 billion was up 15%, with EPS up 21%.

營業比率為 59.5%；提醒一下，其中包含約 250 個基點、來自 Quality Carriers 的持續性影響。利息及其他費用大致持平，所得稅費用亦大致持平。本季有效稅率為 21.9%，由於一項有利的州立法變更而低於法定稅率。因此，淨利 11 億美元成長 15%，每股盈餘（EPS）成長 21%。

Now let's take a closer look at expense on the next slide. Total third quarter expense increased $460 million versus the prior year. Fuel was up nearly $200 million, primarily due to higher prices. Inflation remains above historical levels with $82 million of inflation across labor, PS and owing rents. Labor inflation alone was around $50 million, which reflects the proposed wage rate increase from the tentative union agreements.

接下來在下一頁投影片更仔細看看費用。第三季總費用較去年增加 4.6 億美元。燃料費用增加近 2 億美元，主要因價格上升所致。通膨仍高於歷史水準，勞動力、PS 與自有租金（owing rents）合計通膨影響為 8,200 萬美元。僅勞動力通膨約 5,000 萬美元，反映了暫定工會協議中所提議的薪資調升。

In addition, we recorded $42 million of out-of-period expenses related to adjusting union labor accruals for the tentative agreements. The most significant piece of this is the impact of the proposed union bonuses. When you think about labor expense going forward, the $42 million is a net catch-up and will not recur. The base labor per employee, excluding this impact is expected to be the new run rate for Q4 and into the first half of next year. Of course, comp per employee will also be impacted by seasonality mix and other factors, but the full impact of the tentative union agreement is now in our base labor costs.

此外，我們認列了 4,200 萬美元的跨期費用（out-of-period expenses），與針對暫定協議調整工會勞動力應計項目相關。其中最主要的部分是所提議的工會獎金影響。就未來的勞動力費用而言，這 4,200 萬美元屬於一次性的淨追溯調整，未來不會重複發生。排除此影響後的每位員工基礎勞動力成本，預期將成為第四季以及明年上半年新的常態水準（run rate）。當然，每位員工的薪酬也會受到季節性組合與其他因素影響，但暫定工會協議的完整影響如今已反映在我們的基礎勞動力成本中。

Next, Quality and Pan Am combined for $46 million of higher expense with the increase split about evenly between the two. Quality expenses correlate with higher revenues, while Pan Am reflects the first full quarter of CSX ownership. The Pan Am integration process is well underway, and we continue to receive positive customer indications around strong growth opportunities as we invest to increase the speed and reliability of the former Pan Am network.

接著，Quality 與 Pan Am 合計帶來 4,600 萬美元的費用增加，增幅約由兩者各半分攤。Quality 的費用與較高營收相互連動，而 Pan Am 則反映 CSX 持有後的第一個完整季度。Pan Am 的整合流程正順利推進，我們也持續收到客戶的正面回饋，指出在我們投資提升原 Pan Am 網路的速度與可靠性之際，存在強勁的成長機會。

Real estate gains were $33 million less than prior year, with volume and all other expenses increasing $66 million. While operating fluidity improved through the quarter, our hiring focus remains, and we incurred approximately $40 million of incremental costs related to T&E training, higher locomotive count, additional intermodal terminal activity and other congestion-related items.

不動產處分收益較去年少 3,300 萬美元；運量及其他所有費用增加 6,600 萬美元。雖然營運流暢度在本季逐步改善，但我們仍聚焦招募，因此我們產生了約 4,000 萬美元的增量成本，與 T&E 訓練、更高的機車數量、更多的聯運場站作業活動，以及其他與壅塞相關的項目有關。

Volume-related costs and higher depreciation represented the balance of the expense increase. We do expect some of the congestion related expenses to continue into the fourth quarter but view these costs as the first efficiency opportunities to be realized as we achieved sustained improvements in network performance.

與運量相關的成本以及較高的折舊構成了費用增加的其餘部分。我們確實預期部分與壅塞相關的費用將延續到第四季，但我們將這些成本視為在網路表現達成持續改善後，最先能夠實現的效率機會。

Now turning to cash flow on Slide 11. Year-to-date, free cash flow before dividends is down nearly $30 million but up approximately $120 million when adjusting for after-tax cash proceeds from the Virginia transaction. This is despite close to $225 million of additional capital spend as we continue investing for the health of our network to support the Quality and Pan Am acquisitions and position for future growth.

接著看第 11 頁投影片的現金流。今年迄今，股利發放前的自由現金流較去年下降近 3,000 萬美元；但若調整維吉尼亞交易的稅後現金收入，自由現金流則約增加 1.2 億美元。即便如此，我們的資本支出仍增加近 2.25 億美元，因為我們持續投資以維持網路健康，支持 Quality 與 Pan Am 的收購，並為未來成長做好布局。

After funding all the capital needs of the business, shareholder distributions have exceeded $4.3 billion this year, including over $3.7 billion of share repurchases and nearly $650 million of dividends. Additionally, we ended the quarter with a strong balance sheet, including $2.4 billion of cash and short-term investments. Looking forward, we expect to maintain our balanced opportunistic approach to returning excess cash to shareholders.

在滿足業務所有資本需求後，今年對股東的回饋已超過 43 億美元，其中包括超過 37 億美元的庫藏股回購，以及近 6.5 億美元的股利。此外，我們在季末仍維持強健的資產負債表，包括 24 億美元的現金與短期投資。展望未來，我們預期將維持平衡且具機會性的方式，把多餘現金回饋給股東。

And with that, let me turn it back to Joe for his closing remarks.

以上，讓我把時間交回 Joe，請他做結語。

All right. Thank you, Sean.

好的。謝謝你，Sean。

Now let's conclude with a review of our outlook as shown on Slide 12. There is no change to our expectation for double-digit revenue and operating growth for the full year, excluding the effects of the Virginia real estate transaction. While there is uncertainty in the global economy, we feel confident in our ability to deliver on this guidance as we look over the remainder of this year.

現在我們以第 12 頁投影片所示的展望回顧作結。排除維吉尼亞不動產交易的影響後，我們對全年營收與營業成長達到雙位數的預期沒有改變。儘管全球經濟仍存在不確定性，但在展望今年剩餘期間時，我們對達成此指引的能力仍具信心。

As we mentioned in our earlier remarks, we are pleased with the positive momentum in our service metrics, and we continue our hiring and training efforts to ensure that we have the resources needed to build on these trends and drive improved network fluidity.

如同我們先前的談話所提到的，我們對服務指標的正向動能感到滿意，並將持續推動招募與訓練工作，以確保我們具備所需資源來延續這些趨勢，並帶動網路流暢度的改善。

We remain committed to returning excess capital to shareholders, as you saw over this past quarter. And finally, we reiterate our priority to building a unified cohesive culture of ONE CSX that will strengthen the relationships we have with our employees, customers and all other stakeholders. This is a great company. And working together, there is so much more that we can accomplish. And that's why I'm so excited to be here.

我們仍然致力於將多餘資本回饋給股東，正如各位在本季所看到的。最後，我們重申我們的優先事項：打造「ONE CSX」一致且凝聚的文化，以強化我們與員工、客戶以及所有其他利害關係人的關係。這是一家很棒的公司。只要攜手合作，我們能完成的事情還有更多。這也是我如此興奮能在這裡的原因。

Thank you all. I'll now turn it back to Matthew for Q&A.

謝謝各位。接下來我把時間交還給 Matthew 進行問答。

Thank you, Joe. (Operator Instructions) And with that, operator, please open up the line.

謝謝你，Joe。（接線員指示）那麼，接線員，請開放電話線。

(Operator Instructions)

（接線員指示）

Your first question comes from the line of Ken Hoexter with Bank of America.

第一個問題來自美國銀行（Bank of America）的 Ken Hoexter。

Can you talk a little bit about your learning curve, why you're right background for the role, what you hope to accomplish? And I mean, it's a general question. And then I mean my more specific one would be on trucking, right? Like you talked about the rate ramp? And is that something that gets impacted by loose capacity? Or is the chemical business just different from the trucking side? But I'll stick with the big one on -- for you, Joe, to start with.

你能談談你的學習曲線、為什麼你的背景適合這個職位、以及你希望達成什麼嗎？我知道這是個比較概括的問題。然後我更具體的問題會是關於卡車運輸，對吧？像你提到的運價爬升（rate ramp），那是否會受到寬鬆運能的影響？還是化學品業務本來就跟卡車運輸端不同？不過我先從大的問題開始——Joe，先請你回答。

Okay. Thanks, Ken.

好的。謝謝你，Ken。

Well, I think Jim highlighted a couple of things, but certainly, the labor side of the business experience in the automotive industry is certainly very applicable to our situation that we're in now. When you look at working through with our labor union partners tenant agreements and ratification and working through those issues. But more importantly, I had the opportunity to be a customer for 20 years of the rail industry and have shared a lot of those experiences with our team and have challenged us to continue to look at things from a customer's perspective to make sure that we are holding ourselves to a higher standard of service and accountability for our side of this relationship. And I'm really proud of the work that Jamie and the operations team are doing to really show improvement in that area.

我想 Jim 已經點出幾點，但當然，在汽車產業累積的勞動面向經驗，對我們目前的處境非常適用。當你看我們如何與工會夥伴一起處理暫定協議（tentative agreements）、批准（ratification）並推進相關議題時，就能看得出來。但更重要的是，我有機會以鐵路產業客戶的身分長達 20 年，並把許多這些經驗分享給團隊，也督促我們持續從客戶角度檢視事情，確保我們在服務水準與關係中自身的責任與問責上，對自己要求更高。我也為 Jamie 與營運團隊在這方面展現的改善成果感到非常自豪。

Jim mentioned that obviously, the auto industry is a complex business, and so is the rail industry, there's different types of complexities. But from my background experience, I think a lot of that's applicable. But I would step back for a second and say, at the end of the day, it's the workforce, it's the people here that serve our customers. And when we bring everybody together and align around our core objectives and around our opportunity to serve our customers better and work together better, we can create an even better CSX, and that's an opportunity for us to bring home and to bring to life and I'm really excited to be a part of that.

Jim 提到，顯然汽車產業是個複雜的業務，鐵路產業也是，只是複雜性類型不同。但以我的背景經驗來看，其中很多是可以套用的。不過我想先退一步說，歸根結底，關鍵在於勞動力、在於這裡為客戶服務的人。當我們把所有人凝聚在一起，並圍繞核心目標、以及更好服務客戶與更好協作的機會對齊時，我們就能打造更好的 CSX。這是我們可以帶回來、也可以真正落地實現的機會，而我很興奮能成為其中一份子。

I'll let Kevin handle the second part.

第二部分我讓 Kevin 來回答。

Ken, think if I got your question right, on the chemical, you're asking about the chemical trucking quality and...

Ken，如果我理解你的問題沒錯，關於化學品，你是在問化學品卡車運輸的品質以及……

Yes. Kevin, I guess, just obviously, what we're seeing in the market is just how pricing collapsing right on the spot basis. And I just want to understand, is the chemical business different in terms of the revenues we can expect from the trucking and other business? Or is that something that's maybe more sustainable?

是的。Kevin，我想說的是，顯然我們在市場上看到的是即期（spot）價格大幅下滑。我想了解的是，化學品業務在我們可預期的卡車運輸及其他業務收入方面是否有所不同？或者那是否是更可持續的？

Yes. I mean you have to remember when we were looking at this business, it's a high touch, customers really care about product quality and the brand awareness that they have for quality is very, very high. This is not a business that typically moves around. And so what you've seen is actually, they've done a great job of attracting some drivers this year. And so that's been -- I think they've done an excellent job versus the market there.

是的。我的意思是，你得記得我們當初看這個業務時，它是高接觸（high touch）的業務，客戶非常在意產品品質，而且他們對品質的品牌認知非常、非常高。這不是一個通常會到處轉移的業務。因此你看到的其實是，他們今年在吸引一些司機方面做得很好。所以在那方面——我認為他們相較於市場表現得非常出色。

And then pricing has been very, very good and continues to remain that way. And so that's what we continue to see. It's a very, very different market. It's not -- people have to be highly trained, highly skilled to do that business, and they have a great workforce doing it.

另外，定價一直非常、非常好，而且仍然維持在那樣的水準。所以我們持續看到的就是這樣。這是一個非常、非常不同的市場。它不是——人員必須受過高度訓練、具備高技能才能做這個業務，而他們也確實有一支很優秀的團隊在執行。

Your next question comes from the line of Scott Group with Wolfe Research.

下一個問題來自 Wolfe Research 的 Scott Group。

Sean, maybe just any near-term color guidance on the other revenue, the labor comp per employee, anything on operating ratio in Q4.

Sean，也許能否就短期提供一些指引或補充說明：其他收入（other revenue）、每位員工的勞動補償（labor comp per employee），以及第四季的營運比率（operating ratio）方面有沒有什麼看法？

And then, Joe, just it sounds like more of a focus on service, culture, so maybe, I guess, more of a growth focus. I guess how are you thinking about the ability to grow and improve operating ratio over time? Or is it more just about growth? Or is it both? Just your big picture strategy going forward.

然後，Joe，聽起來你更聚焦在服務與文化，所以也許——我猜是更偏向成長的聚焦。我想問你如何看待隨時間推進，成長與改善營運比率的能力？還是說更主要就是成長？或是兩者兼具？請談談你未來的大方向策略。

Scott, I'll start with the sort of modeling questions. In terms of other revenue, what we've said for a while here is that we do expect it to normalize as supply chains get back to normal. Clearly, that didn't happen here in the third quarter with the increase that we saw in the other revenue line. But the expectation remains the same that we should see it come down in the fourth quarter and again into next year.

Scott，我先回答偏模型（modeling）的問題。就其他收入而言，我們一段時間以來一直說，隨著供應鏈回到正常狀態，我們預期它會回歸常態。很明顯，第三季並沒有發生，因為我們看到其他收入項目增加。但我們的預期仍然相同：第四季應該會下降，並且明年也會繼續下降。

To your other point around comp per employee. I think the best way to think about that is to take the $42 million we talked about, which was the out-of-period expenses related to the tentative union agreement, strip that out of labor, and that's the comp per employee run rate that you're probably going to want to use going into Q4 as well as into the first half of next year before the next increase takes place in July of 2023.

至於你提到的每位員工補償，我認為最好的理解方式是：把我們提到的 4,200 萬美元（$42 million）——也就是與暫定工會協議相關的跨期費用（out-of-period expenses）——從勞動成本中剔除。剔除後的數字，就是你在進入第四季以及明年上半年（在 2023 年 7 月下一次調升發生之前）可能會想採用的每位員工補償的運行水準（run rate）。

I'll let Joe take the second part of the question.

第二部分我讓 Joe 來回答。

Thanks, Sean. And thanks, Scott.

謝謝你，Sean。也謝謝你，Scott。

I think the way I'd like to describe it really is just on how we're looking at this is just to step back for a second because I had the opportunity throughout the summer with all my conversations with Jim and the Board to really take a -- to get educated on tailor railroading and get educated on CSX.

我想我會這樣描述我們的看法：先退一步，因為在整個夏天，我在與 Jim 以及董事會的所有對話中，確實有機會去——深入了解精準鐵路（precision railroading），也深入了解 CSX。

So the way I like to describe is how we're looking at things is the 5 guiding principles of scale in railroading are really around improved safety, improved customer service, control costs, improve your asset utilization and engage and then ultimately, value and evolve your employees. And so if you take a look at all 5 of those things, they're all very important.

所以我喜歡用這樣的方式描述我們如何看待事情：鐵路規模化（scale in railroading）的 5 項指導原則，主要圍繞在提升安全、提升客戶服務、控制成本、提升資產利用率，以及投入並最終重視與培育員工。若你看這 5 件事，它們都非常重要。

And so operating ratio is a big part of looking at controlling costs and your asset utilization and frankly, a number of other pieces that go in there. So clearly, that's a very important number for us and a very important part of our objectives. Improving safety, as Jamie talked about earlier, is really important and we'll never ever get away from that in this industry.

因此，營運比率是檢視控制成本與資產利用率的重要部分，坦白說，還有其他許多因素也包含在其中。所以很明確地，這對我們而言是非常重要的數字，也是我們目標中非常重要的一環。提升安全，如同 Jamie 先前談到的，非常重要，而在這個產業我們永遠不會、也絕不會偏離這一點。

The other 2 areas around our customers and employees are opportunities for us. So how do we leverage our strong operating model that we have here and that Jim and the team have built over a number of years to continue to improve the service we provide our customers and the experience and the engagement our employees feel as part of ONE CSX team. Now how does that lead to growth?

另外兩個面向——客戶與員工——對我們而言是機會。因此，我們要如何運用我們在這裡擁有的強大營運模式（也是 Jim 與團隊多年建立起來的），持續改善我們提供給客戶的服務，以及讓員工在「ONE CSX」團隊中感受到的體驗與投入度（engagement）。那麼，這如何帶來成長？

I'll tell you a couple of ways. One, with the increased service performance and the manpower that we're putting on that increases our capacity, which we now can leverage to quickly provide for our customers. I've had the opportunity to reach out and have video calls with about 8 of our largest customers over the last couple of weeks. And almost every single one of them has told me directly to our -- CEO or COO of all those customers, they've all told me that when you deliver a better service and more reliable, predictable service, we want to do more business with you.

我告訴你幾個方式。第一，隨著服務表現提升，以及我們增加的人力配置，會提升我們的運能，而我們現在可以運用這些運能，快速滿足客戶需求。過去幾週，我有機會主動聯繫並與大約 8 位我們最大的客戶進行視訊通話。幾乎每一位——那些客戶的 CEO 或 COO——都直接告訴我：當你提供更好的服務、以及更可靠、可預測的服務時，我們希望與你做更多生意。

So we'll have to chase growth by trying to do unnatural things. We need to continue to do the things we're doing, leverage our operating model to continue to deliver better service and with that -- and increase the head count, and with that comes the opportunity to serve our customers better. And because we're a lower cost, because we're better for the environment, because of all kinds of other reasons, there's opportunities for us to grow the business that way. And that's the way we look at the opportunity, through better customer service, through increased capacity through the manning, we have the opportunity to serve our customers and there's more opportunity for us there.

所以我們不需要靠做一些不自然的事情來追逐成長。我們需要持續把正在做的事情做好，運用我們的營運模式持續提供更好的服務，並且——增加人力；隨之而來的就是更好服務客戶的機會。也因為我們成本更低、對環境更友善，以及各種其他原因，我們有機會用這種方式來擴大業務。我們就是這樣看待機會的：透過更好的客戶服務、透過人力配置帶來的運能提升，我們有機會服務客戶，而那裡也有更多機會。

Your next question is from the line of Ben Nolan with Stifel.

下一個問題來自 Stifel 的 Ben Nolan。

I appreciate the time guys. I wanted to get back to the coal side of it a little bit. Those outages have kind of continued both at the mines and the ports and appreciating that we're sort of now getting back to normal. Given the demand that you're seeing from your customers, is it possible to give any color as to how much incremental volume is achievable, let's say, in the next 6 months or however long it takes for some of these bottlenecks to normalize? How much better is it than it used to be or than it currently is do you think?

感謝各位的時間。我想稍微回到煤炭業務這一塊。無論是在礦區或港口，這些停擺（outages）似乎都持續了一段時間；也理解我們現在大致正在回到正常狀態。考量你們從客戶端看到的需求，能否提供一些補充說明：在接下來 6 個月左右，或在這些瓶頸恢復正常所需的期間內，大概能達成多少額外（incremental）的運量？你認為它會比過去好多少，或比目前好多少？

Yes. I think probably the gating factor as we get into next year, and we obviously are confident in resolving our labor issues as what can the producers actually produce. Coal mines are -- have been undercapitalized, quite frankly, and now have a lot of money in there looking for equipment, reinvesting. And so I anticipate it will get better. We also do have a mine coming online middle of next year that will help us, and we have a number of them that are still ramping up.

是的。我認為可能的關鍵限制因素是，當我們進入明年時——而且我們顯然有信心解決我們的勞動力問題——在於生產商實際上能生產多少。坦白說，煤礦一直資本投入不足，而現在有大量資金在那裡尋找設備、進行再投資。因此我預期情況會改善。我們也確實有一座礦將在明年年中投產，這會對我們有所幫助，而且我們還有好幾座礦仍在爬坡增產中。

So production looks like it could be up next year, knock on wood. We probably would have said that last year at this time too. So -- there's a lot of things that can happen as you -- we mentioned previously on the call, we've had some mines that have struggled, but are coming out of that here recently into the fourth quarter. So optimistic on the production side.

所以如果一切順利的話，明年的產量看起來可能會上升。我們大概在去年這個時候也會這麼說。所以——隨著情況發展，有很多事情可能會發生；正如我們先前在電話會議中提到的，我們有一些礦場曾經遇到困難，但最近正逐步走出困境並進入第四季。因此在產量方面我們保持樂觀。

There's clearly a need when you look at the utility coal mines or the utilities that we serve, particularly in the South. They have a lot of inventories they need to replenish. And so we anticipate a lot more consistent deliveries over the next year to really replenish those levels. And we continue to see the export market very, very strong and a lot of geopolitical risk out there in Europe and other areas where you probably didn't see as much demand a year ago continue to have a lot of demand. So a mine you want to serve that, it's profitable for them, and we anticipate to have the resources to be able to deliver going into next year.

很明顯地，當你看看公用事業用煤礦或我們服務的公用事業客戶，尤其是在美國南部，就會看到需求。他們有大量庫存需要補充。因此我們預期未來一年會有更穩定一致的交付，以真正把庫存水位補回來。同時我們仍然看到出口市場非常、非常強勁，而歐洲及其他地區存在許多地緣政治風險；在那些地方，你可能在一年前還沒看到這麼多需求，但現在需求仍然很旺。所以，對於想要服務那個市場的礦方而言，這是有利可圖的；而我們預期在進入明年時，將具備能夠交付所需的資源。

Okay. Is that sort of if you're just categorizing areas of the business, that's probably the one area that we're looking into next year, there's the best growth potential? How do you think of it that way?

好的。如果你只是把業務領域做分類的話，這大概就是我們展望明年、成長潛力最好的那一塊？你是這樣看待的嗎？

I think on the volume side, remember, we kind of moved with the commodity price on the international market. So depending on what that does, they're at very, very healthy levels today. A little bit down from the highs that we saw previously in the year, but that I think that will be the biggest factor as we look at overall coal revenue for the next year.

我認為在運量方面，請記得我們基本上會跟著國際市場的大宗商品價格走。所以要看那邊的價格怎麼走；目前水準非常、非常健康。相較於今年稍早看到的高點略有回落，但我認為，當我們看明年整體煤炭營收時，這將是最大的影響因素。

Your next question is from the line of Amit Mehrotra.

下一個問題來自 Amit Mehrotra。

Joe, hearty congratulations to you. I wish you the best, and Jim, will miss you. I'm sure you'll miss all the 50 conferences and all the questions that we asked you, but hopefully, you'll find something else to do. So congratulations to both of you all.

Joe，衷心恭喜你。祝你一切順利，Jim，我們會想念你。我相信你也會想念那 50 場會議以及我們問你的所有問題，但希望你能找到其他事情做。也恭喜你們兩位。

Sean, I wanted to ask you about the cost structure ex fuel. Obviously, the fourth quarter, but I'm really kind of interested in how you think about it for 2023 because that -- we're obviously still in a pretty high inflationary environment.

Sean，我想問你關於不含燃料的成本結構。很明顯是第四季，但我其實更關心你如何看待 2023 年，因為——我們顯然仍處在相當高的通膨環境中。

And just related to that, Kevin, once Sean talks about that, can you just talk about your confidence in being able to grow the franchise enough to actually see earnings growth and EBIT growth next year relative to 2022. Just what your level of confidence is in given some of these idiosyncratic volume factors netted out against obviously some uncertainty on the macro side?

另外也相關的是，Kevin，在 Sean 談完之後，你能否談談你對於能把特許經營規模擴大到足以在明年相較 2022 年看到獲利成長與 EBIT 成長的信心？在把一些特定的運量因素相互抵銷、同時宏觀面仍有不確定性的情況下，你的信心程度如何？

Thanks, Amit. I'll get started on the cost question.

謝謝你，Amit。我先從成本問題開始。

So I mean, think about the fact that the labor cost has now been reset. So we know what our base is kind of going into next year. Inflation doesn't show any signs of abating here more broadly outside of labor and recognize that some of our costs are based on lagging indicators, meaning they'll get set based on where the inflationary rates are in 2022 for next year.

所以，我的意思是，先想想勞動力成本現在已經重新設定了。因此我們知道進入明年時的基礎水準大概是什麼。通膨在更廣泛的層面上（除了勞動力之外）看不出有緩解的跡象，而且要注意我們有些成本是依據落後指標，也就是說，明年的費率會根據 2022 年的通膨率來設定。

So there's no doubt we'll be in a sustained inflationary environment going into next year between labor and some of those outside party contracts that we have. That being said, we've been carrying extra costs here throughout the year as the network has not operated the way we would have wanted it to based on not having enough crews in the right places. That problem is rapidly getting fixed here. You can see it in the numbers over the last couple of weeks.

所以毫無疑問，進入明年後，勞動力以及我們與外部承包方簽訂的一些合約，會讓我們處在一個持續的通膨環境中。話雖如此，今年以來我們一直承擔額外成本，因為網路運作並未如我們所希望的那樣順暢，原因是沒有足夠的班組配置在正確的位置。這個問題正在迅速被解決。你可以從過去幾週的數字看出來。

And so some of those costs are probably going to be a bit sticky going into the fourth quarter. But as we get into next year, I think there's plenty of opportunity for us to drive some efficiencies and take some of the cost out to help offset the inflationary headwinds that we're going to see.

因此，其中一些成本在進入第四季時可能會有點黏著性。但當我們進入明年，我認為我們有很大的空間去推動效率、把部分成本拿掉，以協助抵銷我們將面臨的通膨逆風。

Yes. My confidence level, I'll tell you where my confidence level is. I'm confident in what the team is doing and what we're going to be able to control going into next year. And there's a number of factors, obviously, that are out of our control, but we have a tremendous amount of initiatives that are really taking hold and are really going to capitalize on the service product that we expect to deliver next year.

是的。我的信心程度——我告訴你我的信心在哪裡。我對團隊正在做的事情，以及我們在進入明年時能夠掌控的部分很有信心。當然也有許多因素不在我們控制之內，但我們有大量的倡議正在真正落地，並且將充分利用我們預期明年能交付的服務產品。

As Joe mentioned, there's a lot of customers that want to give us more share of what they're producing and what they're making out there. And so we have a lot of those initiatives in place that will reap benefits as we move into next year. And that's where my confidence lies. We started the process very, very early, in terms of looking at those, realizing that there could be different markets that can move around on us next year.

正如 Joe 提到的，有很多客戶希望把他們在外面生產、製造的更多份額交給我們。因此我們已經部署了許多這類倡議，隨著我們進入明年將會收穫效益。我的信心就在這裡。我們很早就開始這個流程，去檢視這些機會，並意識到明年可能會有不同市場在我們周圍變動。

But we know through them -- what's happened during the pandemic is the railroad, in particular, all of us really haven't participated in the growth that existed out there. And so that's our objective to position ourselves no matter what the economy holds, that we're taking our fair share and then more of it. And so that's where the confidence is very, very high across the whole team. And we were just with our short line partners. And I think there's a lot of confidence there that they have opportunities to go out into the market and take share from truck.

但我們知道——疫情期間發生的情況是，鐵路業，尤其是我們所有人，確實沒有參與到外部存在的成長。因此我們的目標是，不論經濟情勢如何，都要把自己定位好，拿到我們應得的份額，甚至更多。這也是為什麼整個團隊的信心非常、非常高。我們也剛和我們的短線鐵路合作夥伴在一起。我認為他們也很有信心，覺得他們有機會走向市場，從卡車運輸那邊搶下市占。

Yes. That makes sense. And Sean, I just wanted to follow up just one quick point on what you said. So if I look at your cost base ex-fuel this year, it's kind of like $7.3 billion. It seems like 4%, 5% inflation off that number is kind of the right structural costs that go up. But I guess what you're saying is, listen, there's a lot of inefficiencies, $40 million a quarter in '22. So maybe there's an opportunity to actually, if the fluidity gets better, there is actually an opportunity to see net inflation lower than that. Is that -- would you say that's a fair characterization?

是的，這很合理。Sean，我只是想就你剛才說的再追問一個小點。如果我看你今年不含燃料的成本基礎，大概是 73 億美元。看起來在那個數字上加 4% 到 5% 的通膨，應該就是結構性成本上升的合理幅度。但我想你在說的是：聽著，2022 年每季大概有 4,000 萬美元的低效率成本。所以也許如果流動性改善，實際上有機會讓淨通膨低於那個幅度。這樣——你會說這是個公平的描述嗎？

Well, I mean, we're going to see how much cost we can take out based on how well the network spends. But I think the general premise that you're thinking about is the right construct. We got $40 million to $50 million a quarter this year that as we cycle better, should go away. Is there more opportunity beyond that? Sure.

嗯，我的意思是，我們會看看基於網路運行得有多好，我們能拿掉多少成本。但我認為你所思考的一般前提是正確的架構。今年我們每季有 4,000 萬到 5,000 萬美元的成本，隨著我們周轉更順暢，理應會消失。除此之外還有更多機會嗎？當然有。

Your next question is from the line of Jon Chappell with Evercore ISI.

下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Jon Chappell。

Jamie, I think last quarter, I asked you about capacity as you're still trying to ramp up the labor force. Now it feels like you're pretty close to rightsizing the network from a labor perspective. We've talked a little bit about some of those excess equipment you have on the network today, what would you estimate the spare capacity is today on the network to take on new business, meet this demand that you've been leaving on the table for much of the last 12 months.

Jamie，我記得上季我問過你在仍努力擴充勞動力時的產能問題。現在感覺你在人力角度上已經很接近把網路規模調整到合適水準。我們也談到你目前網路上有一些多餘設備；你會如何估計目前網路上可用的閒置產能，以承接新業務、滿足這些你在過去 12 個月大部分時間都不得不放在桌面上的需求？

And I guess the other way to phrase it too, is if we do go into a pretty deep downturn, is that capacity that you'd be willing to kind of flex off the network for a short period of time? Or it's something you want to keep to make sure you're never short again, given some of the labor issues?

我想換個方式問：如果我們真的進入相當深的衰退，那些產能是否是你願意在短時間內從網路中彈性撤下的？還是你想保留它，以確保在經歷過一些勞動力問題後，你不會再度出現產能不足？

Thanks for the question, Jon.

謝謝你的問題，Jon。

When we take a look at the capacity that we currently have out there right now, it's all about people, people, people. And we've been saying this quarter after quarter after quarter. And you're right, we are getting closer to our targets, but we're still a few hundred people off.

當我們檢視目前手上現有的產能時，關鍵就在於人、人、人。我們一季又一季、再一季都在這麼說。你說得對，我們正在更接近目標，但仍然差了幾百人。

So we have pinch points out there that isn't as fluid as we want. You can see in our numbers that we're starting to -- the velocity is picking up or dwells coming down. Even our trip plan performance is creeping up, but definitely not where we want it to be.

所以我們在一些地方仍有瓶頸，流動性還沒有達到我們想要的程度。你可以從我們的數字看到，我們開始——速度在提升，或停留時間在下降。甚至我們的行程計畫績效也在逐步上升，但肯定還沒到我們希望的水準。

So over the next couple of quarters, really, you're going to start to see that momentum continue to pick up. And as Sean mentioned, yes, we still have too many locomotives out there. And the velocity will help us on that end. And even our cars online are higher than where they should be.

因此在接下來幾個季度，你真的會開始看到這股動能持續增強。正如 Sean 提到的，是的，我們外面仍然有太多機車。速度提升會在這方面幫到我們。而且我們在線車輛數也高於應有水準。

So as we continue to move forward, there is a lot of cost opportunity there for us to pull out. But -- and as we do that and as we move quicker, easily I mean we've said this years ago, but there's easily the capacity that's out there with the right manpower. We've always said 10%, 15%, 20% capacity with the way that this plant is set up isn't really that big of an issue as long as we have the people to move it. We've got all the assets we need, and we are blessed with a fantastic network here at CSX with double track, long sidings and some good yards that can handle a lot. And an operating team out there that's just doing fantastic. So they've proven to us time and time again that we have that capacity to continue to grow. So this is still a people story for us as we move forward.

因此，隨著我們持續向前推進，確實有很多成本機會可供我們釋放。但——當我們這麼做、而且加快速度時，很容易，我的意思是我們多年前就說過，只要有合適的人力，外部其實很容易就有那樣的產能。我們一直說，以這座廠的配置方式來看，10%、15%、20% 的產能並不是什麼大問題，只要我們有人可以把它跑起來。我們擁有所需的所有資產，而且在 CSX 這裡我們很幸運擁有一個非常出色的網路，有雙線、長會讓線以及一些能處理大量作業的好場站。外面的營運團隊也做得非常出色。所以他們一次又一次向我們證明，我們有持續成長的產能。因此，當我們往前走時，這對我們來說仍然是一個「人」的故事。

Now when we talk about that, and as you mentioned, I mean, that pent-up demand has been discussed a number of times from Kevin and other folks. What is that pent-up demand that's out there? Is that 4%? Is that 5%? Is that 10%? I mean to put a number -- a different number of what that really can be out there. So if we see a dip in the economy, we expect to be able to start picking up some of that freight that we can't pick up today. And for us, we just need to have a -- stay with the forward-looking view on what's going to happen in not just next month or 2 months from now, but we want to look at 9 months from now, 10 months from now and really protect that T&E head count that we have. And if we get into any type of situation where we needed to do something different, there's natural attrition. Our natural attrition is 8% to 10% each year. And if we needed to pause classes, we're able to do that.

現在談到這個，正如你提到的，我的意思是，Kevin 和其他人已多次談到那個被壓抑的需求。外面到底有多少被壓抑的需求？是 4%？是 5%？是 10%？我的意思是，要給一個數字——一個不同的數字來說明它實際可能是多少。所以如果我們看到經濟下滑，我們預期就能開始承接一些我們今天還無法承接的貨運。對我們而言，我們需要——保持前瞻性的視角，不只是看下個月或兩個月後會發生什麼，而是想看 9 個月後、10 個月後，並真正保護我們現有的 T&E 人力編制。如果我們遇到任何需要採取不同作法的情況，還有自然流失。我們每年的自然流失率是 8% 到 10%。如果需要暫停訓練班，我們也做得到。

But ultimately, we want to protect that T&E workforce that's there. As we just mentioned -- Sean mentioned and I did, I guess at the start of the question, there's a lot of other levers we can pull throughout the organization.

但最終，我們想要保護現有的 T&E 勞動力。正如我們剛提到的——Sean 提到、我也提到，我想在問題一開始就說了，整個組織裡還有很多其他槓桿可以拉動。

So as a team, I think we would all sit down and have that discussion and we will make sure that we rightsize our assets and railroads are always heavy on assets. So we've got a lot of great cost savings we can do on that end. But all in all, we want to protect that T&E workforce and forward-looking. And as -- if some type of a softening in the market comes, we're going to be prepared to come out of it strong. We're going to be prepared to get all the traffic that's out there, and we're going to come out of this stronger than we ever have if we get into that situation.

所以以團隊來說，我想我們都會坐下來討論，並確保我們把資產規模調整到合適水準，而鐵路業一向是資產很重的產業。因此在那一端我們有很多很好的成本節省可以做。但總體而言，我們希望保護 T&E 勞動力並保持前瞻。而且——如果市場出現某種程度的趨緩，我們會準備好強勢走出來。我們會準備好把外面的所有運量都拿下來；如果真的進入那種情況，我們將比以往任何時候都更強。

Your next question is from the line of Tom Wadewitz with UBS.

您的下一個問題來自 UBS 的 Tom Wadewitz。

Great. Wanted to see if you could offer maybe a quick thought on operating ratio in fourth quarter versus third quarter. Another railroad reported earlier today, Union Pacific, and they I think, surprised people a bit with talking about worse to normal seasonal OR in 4Q versus 3Q. So I wanted to see if you could offer a quick thought on that.

很好。我想看看你是否能就第四季相對第三季的營運比率（OR）提供一個簡短看法。今天稍早另一家鐵路公司——聯合太平洋（Union Pacific）——已先行公布，我想他們談到第四季相對第三季的 OR 季節性表現比正常更差，讓市場有點意外。所以我想請你對此給個簡短看法。

And then for Kevin, I think in a higher inflation environment, you'd like to get more price, but the counterpoint to that is that the truck market is weaker and you do compete with truck. So how do you think about those factors? Can you get more priced because you have more inflation? Or should we be mindful of lower truckload pricing and that's kind of a barrier to getting more price?

另外給 Kevin 的問題：在較高通膨環境下，你會希望取得更高的價格，但反過來的觀點是卡車市場較弱，而你們確實與卡車競爭。你如何看待這些因素？因為通膨較高就能拿到更高的定價嗎？還是我們應該留意卡車整車（truckload）運價下滑，這會成為提高定價的障礙？

Tommy, I'll start on the Q4 OR question.

Tommy，我先回答第四季 OR 的問題。

So I think typical seasonality, it's not always this way, but usually, it's a little bit worse from Q3 to Q4, and that's primarily because we start to wrap up some of our capital projects, and we've got some winter-related expenses that hit. So all reason to believe that that same dynamic would occur this year.

我認為典型的季節性情況是——雖然不一定每次都如此——通常從第三季到第四季會稍微變差，主要是因為我們開始收尾一些資本專案，而且會有一些與冬季相關的費用進來。所以有充分理由相信，今年也會出現同樣的動態。

Some of the other things that will impact the operating ratio going from Q3 to Q4, fuel was a benefit here in the third quarter because of the positive lag that we had. If fuel prices stay relatively constant or follow the forward curve, we would expect that fuel is going to be a bit of a sequential headwind to the OR. It could be 100 basis points or more based on where the forward curve is right now. So that's just a little bit of noise.

此外，從第三季到第四季影響營運比率的其他因素還包括：燃油在第三季帶來了好處，因為我們有正向的滯後效應。如果燃油價格維持相對穩定或沿著遠期曲線走勢，我們預期燃油將對 OR 形成一些連續性的逆風。依照目前遠期曲線的位置，可能是 100 個基點或更多。所以那只是一些小雜訊。

Beyond that, hopefully, we're able to pick up some volume as the network starts spinning, take some costs out. So those are good things. And then I think it's a matter of what do we see on the intermodal storage side because that can be a bit of a swing factor for us as we sit right now.

除此之外，希望隨著網路開始加速運轉，我們能承接一些運量、再把部分成本拿掉。這些都是好事。然後我認為還要看我們在聯運（intermodal）倉儲（storage）那一端會看到什麼，因為就我們目前的狀況而言，那可能會是影響結果的擺盪因素。

Tom, on the trucking environment and other things, I think what you have to remember is we don't really operate in the spot market when the truckers are getting 30%, 40% rate increases, that's not what was occurring on our end, and we have a lot of long-term agreements with customers that they understand.

Tom，關於卡車環境和其他因素，我認為你必須記得的是：我們其實不太在現貨市場運作。當卡車業者拿到 30%、40% 的運價上漲時，那並不是我們這邊發生的情況；而且我們與客戶之間有很多長期協議，客戶也理解這一點。

And the good news right now, we're seeing our customers get price, and they understand some of the cost pressures we're facing. And so we're having those constructive conversations with them. And I think the spreads maybe versus truck aren't as great as they were before, but you have fuel surcharge, which is very high right now, and we know that flows through the truck rates. And so there's still a very, very compelling value proposition for customers to shift from rail -- from truck to rail. And so we're still leaning into that, and there's a lot of appetite that we continue to hear of companies wanting to do that and for the environmental reasons as well.

而目前的好消息是，我們看到客戶本身也在取得價格，他們也理解我們面臨的一些成本壓力。因此我們正與他們進行這些具建設性的對話。我認為相對卡車的價差也許不像以前那麼大，但你有燃油附加費（fuel surcharge），而現在非常高，我們知道那也會反映在卡車運價中。因此，對客戶而言，從卡車轉向鐵路——從卡車到鐵路——仍然是一個非常、非常有吸引力的價值主張。所以我們仍在積極推進，而且我們持續聽到很多公司有意願這麼做，也包括環境因素的考量。

Okay. So it sounds like you're not overly concerned about the kind of maybe falling truckload contract rates you're still pretty optimistic on price?

好的。所以聽起來你並不太擔心可能下滑的卡車整車合約運價，你對定價仍然相當樂觀？

Yes. If I was participating in the 30%, 40% rate increases, maybe that would be more of a risk, but that wasn't the reality of our business model.

是的。如果我也在參與那種 30%、40% 的運價上漲，也許那會是更大的風險，但那並不是我們商業模式的現實。

Your next question is from the line of Brian Ossenbeck with JPMorgan.

您的下一個問題來自 JPMorgan 的 Brian Ossenbeck。

So maybe a quick labor follow-up first for Sean, looking at taking out that $42 million, as you mentioned, getting around $33,000 per employee. I don't know, so it's not a huge step up really from a year-over-year perspective from what you reported. So if you can help decipher that a little bit, something I'm missing, maybe there's been some incentive comp or maybe mix with Pan Am now in the first full quarter. So any thoughts on that would be helpful as we take that and run forward with it?

那我先快速追問一個勞動力問題給 Sean：就你提到要拿掉那 4,200 萬美元來看，換算大約每位員工 33,000 美元。我不確定——所以從年對年的角度看，這其實不是很大的跳升，相較你們先前揭露的數字也是如此。所以如果你能幫忙解讀一下，看看是不是我漏了什麼，也許有一些獎勵性薪酬，或是現在第一個完整季度納入 Pan Am 後的組合變化。對此若能提供一些想法，會有助於我們把這個數字往前推估。

And then just maybe a quick one for Jamie as well.

另外也給 Jamie 一個簡短問題。

When you think about the service recovery and you're performing, I think, best against some of the STB targets that we see in track. How long does it -- you mentioned the pent-up demand, are you seeing that come back? Are shippers still worried about a potential second slowdown or potential shutdown with the union agreement still not completely in hand. So what do you think about the near term? And how long does it really take for you to benefit from some of those service gains?

當你思考服務復原以及你們目前的表現時，我認為在我們看到的軌道相關 STB 目標上，你們的表現是最好的。你提到被壓抑的需求——你有看到它回來嗎？托運人是否仍擔心可能出現第二次放緩，或是因為工會協議尚未完全落定而可能再度停擺？你怎麼看短期情況？而你們要真正從這些服務改善中受益，通常需要多久？

So on your comp per employee question, yes, the math is right, and it really is just the inflationary impact over and above the settlement. So it gets to right around $2,000 per employee for that -- for the $50 million, a little bit more than that. The small mix impact from having more drivers at Quality, which is a little bit lower comp per employee than a railroad worker, but that's really the only offset.

關於你問的每位員工薪酬問題，是的，數學沒錯，主要就是和協議調薪相比，額外的通膨影響。因此，對那——對那 5,000 萬美元而言，換算大約每位員工 2,000 美元，略高於這個數字。至於組合面的些微影響，來自 Quality 那邊有更多司機，而司機的人均薪酬比鐵路員工略低，但那基本上是唯一的抵銷因素。

You can already see our gains in service with the headcount that we've seen rise. So as we continue to qualify 20, 30, sometimes -- some of the weeks coming up here, 40 employees a week, you should continue to see that trend move forward. Now we've got winter coming. So winter always throws a few challenges at us when we look at our service metrics. But our customers are feeling better now. I can tell you that, far from where we need to be.

你已經可以從我們人力編制的增加看到服務改善的成果。因此，隨著我們持續讓每週 20、30 名——有些週接下來甚至 40 名員工完成資格認證，你應該會持續看到這個趨勢往前走。現在冬季要來了，所以當我們看服務指標時，冬天總會帶來一些挑戰。但我們的客戶現在感覺好多了。我可以告訴你這點——但距離我們需要達到的水準還很遠。

And we're feeling it out in the field the discussions that we have -- Joe and I have spent a lot of time out in the field over the last few weeks and the discussion points our men and women who are making this happen each and every day, whether it's on the ground or in the towers, on the service side delivering, everyone is feeling it.

而且我們在現場也感受得到——從我們進行的討論來看。Joe 和我在過去幾週花了很多時間在現場；而我們每天讓這一切成真的男男女女，不論是在地面或是在控制塔、在服務交付端，每個人都感受得到。

We're starting to feel the railroad run better. We're starting to feel the numbers of the cars moving faster. So that's the big highlight that we're excited about and confident that we're going to continue to move forward on these metrics.

我們開始感受到鐵路營運得更順暢了。我們開始感受到車輛的流動速度變快了。所以，這就是我們感到興奮、也是我們有信心會在這些指標上持續向前推進的最大亮點。

And look, I don't like to comment on any anything that's out for ratification. I think it's important that we allow our union leaders to have those discussions with the employees that are out there, and any other ongoing discussions and negotiations. We prefer to really not make any comments on that and allow the folks who are working on that to just continue doing what they're doing.

你看，我不喜歡評論任何仍在等待核准（ratification）的事情。我認為很重要的是，讓我們的工會領導人與在第一線的員工進行那些討論，以及任何其他正在進行的討論與談判。我們傾向於真的不對此發表任何評論，並讓正在處理這件事的人繼續做他們正在做的事。

Understood. Sean, was there any incentive comp impact in this quarter like there was last quarter?

了解。Sean，這一季是否像上一季一樣，有任何與獎勵性薪酬（incentive comp）相關的影響？

No.

沒有。

Your next question is from the line of Chris Wetherbee with Citi.

下一個問題來自花旗（Citi）的 Chris Wetherbee。

I guess, I think there's been a perception that the demand level that's out there is decently been above what the service has allowed you guys to carry? And I guess -- as you think about some of the macro crosscurrents that are out there, potential headwinds, is that still the case? Do you think that demand is still maybe meaningfully above what you're able to provide from a service perspective? And I guess, as you think out maybe shorter term, 4Q in particular, should we start to see the weekly carloads begin to ramp up as the service improvement becomes sort of more realized in the numbers? Just want to get a sense of kind of how you guys are thinking about that?

我想，市場上一直有一種看法，認為目前的需求水準相當程度上高於你們的服務能力所能承載的量？我想問的是——當你們考量目前宏觀環境中的各種交錯因素、以及潛在逆風時，情況仍然如此嗎？你們是否認為需求仍然顯著高於你們在服務面所能提供的能力？另外，若以較短期來看，特別是第四季（4Q），隨著服務改善在數據上逐步反映出來，我們是否應該開始看到每週車載量（weekly carloads）開始爬升？只是想了解你們對此的思考方式。

And then maybe a second point, but related is if we do see things get a little bit worse, how quickly do you think you can respond in terms of heads, whether it be your willingness to furlough or just using attrition, Jamie, I think you talked about a pretty heavy attrition number. Is that something that you guys would be able to use relatively quickly in response to slowing demand?

另外也許第二點，但相關的是：如果我們確實看到情況變得稍微更糟，你們認為在人力（heads）方面能多快做出反應？不論是你們是否願意實施暫時解雇（furlough），或是僅透過自然流失（attrition）。Jamie，我記得你提到相當高的流失數字。若需求放緩，這是否是你們能相對快速運用的工具？

Why don't I touch on the first one, and maybe I'll hand it off to Jamie on the second part of that.

我先回應第一個問題，然後第二部分我可能交給 Jamie。

Look, I think you're well aware, our network more than well over half of our business such as another network out there, another railroad. And so it's important for the industry to work together to capture some of these opportunities we continue to talk about. Clearly, there's a market like housing that are seeing slower signals. But there's other areas like coal and some of the ag products that we're seeing great signs there. And even if in some markets where there could be some slowdown, I think the magnitude of the slowdown is what would be a question for us because there's demand that we haven't been able to meet.

你也很清楚，我們的網路中，超過一半以上的業務都涉及另一個外部網路、另一家鐵路公司。因此，產業彼此合作以掌握我們持續談到的這些機會，是很重要的。很明顯地，像房市這樣的市場正在出現較疲弱的訊號。但在其他領域，例如煤炭以及部分農產品，我們看到非常好的跡象。即便在某些市場可能出現放緩，我認為對我們來說更大的問題會是放緩的幅度，因為仍有一些需求是我們尚未能滿足的。

And quite frankly, a lot of our customers haven't been able to meet because of some of their labor issues the demand that they see out there. So it's just not all CSX. It's the whole supply chain catching up and we're one part of that. So where demand ultimately settles out, I think, is somewhat of a question, but we do see from a share perspective, and that's an important thing, a lot of opportunity to win wallet share with existing customers, and we see a lot of new customers willing for maybe the first time coming to us and saying, well, how does rail work and how could you provide a service for us. And those are the things that we have to lean into as we go in and we have some uncertainty in the market.

坦白說，我們許多客戶也因為他們自身的勞動力問題，而無法滿足他們在市場上看到的需求。所以這不只是 CSX 的問題，而是整個供應鏈都在追趕，我們只是其中一環。因此，需求最終會落在什麼水準，我認為仍有些不確定；但從市占／份額（share）的角度來看——而這很重要——我們看到很多機會可以在既有客戶中提升錢包份額（wallet share），也看到許多新客戶可能是第一次來找我們，問說鐵路運輸怎麼運作、你們能如何為我們提供服務。這些就是在市場存在不確定性時，我們必須加大投入的方向。

And I'll hand it over to Jamie.

我把問題交給 Jamie。

Well, when I -- looking at the question, kind of as I answered it earlier, we got to stay forward looking. Can we pull costs out quick? Well, absolutely, we can. I mean our locomotives, when you think about that, that's a daily cost. You put it down tomorrow, you stop paying for it tomorrow. I mean these are assets that have been around a long time. And we haven't bought a new locomotive in many years, even though we have a rebuild program other than depreciation, the heaviest cost of a locomotive is which you use every day on them.

嗯，當我——看這個問題時，就像我先前回答的，我們必須保持前瞻。成本能不能很快降下來？當然可以。我是說，以機車（locomotives）來看，那是每日成本。你明天把它停用，明天就不再為它付費。這些資產已經存在很長時間了。而且我們很多年沒有買新機車了，雖然我們有翻修（rebuild）計畫；除了折舊之外，機車最重的成本其實是你每天使用它所產生的費用。

So I mean, that is one example of costs that we can handle. And on our T&E side, it's important that we continue to build our T&E workforce where we need it to be. And if we get into a position where things get deeper or things look differently, that attrition, as you mentioned, Chris, it is a heavy attrition rate, and we're able to use that as just a natural way to control our numbers. And by pausing classes, if we get to that, those numbers will take care of themselves. But we -- on the T&E side, and I'm going to keep emphasizing that, we -- it's a very important position like any other in the company, but it takes 4 to 6 months to make a train conductor. And if we get softening market and we come out of this, we are going to be prepared to handle all the traffic that comes back at us. And that's a commitment that we're making, and we're going to continue to follow through on that.

所以，這就是我們能處理的一個成本例子。至於我們的 T&E（列車與引擎人員，Train & Engine）端，重要的是我們要持續把 T&E 人力建置到我們需要的水準。如果我們進入一個情況更嚴峻、或情勢看起來不同的階段，你提到的自然流失（attrition）——Chris，確實是很高的流失率——我們可以把它當作一種自然方式來控管人數。而且如果走到那一步，透過暫停開班（pausing classes），這些數字就會自行調整。但我們——在 T&E 端，我會持續強調——這是公司裡非常重要的職位，跟其他職位一樣；但培訓一名列車導體（train conductor）需要 4 到 6 個月。若市場轉弱、而我們之後走出低迷，我們會做好準備，去承接所有回流的運量。這是我們正在做出的承諾，我們也會持續落實。

So all those other levers, there's a lot we can pull on this industry. We want to make sure that we're prepared to come out of any softening if we get to that point.

所以其他所有槓桿，這個產業有很多可以拉動的。我們要確保，如果真的出現任何轉弱，我們也能做好準備走出來。

Your next question comes from the line of Justin Long with Stephens.

下一個問題來自 Stephens 的 Justin Long。

Sean, are there any thoughts that you can share on your expectation for total volumes and coal RPU moving into the fourth quarter? And then, Joe, congrats on the new role. Congrats to Jim as well. Going back to the question on growth versus margins, I think it's clear you're focused on improving service, improving the customer experience. Do you think that requires additional costs and a need for margins to take a step back in 2023 to set the stage for future growth? Or do you think there's enough cost opportunity from running a more fluid network so that margins can improve next year?

Sean，你能否分享一下你對第四季總運量以及煤炭每單位收入（RPU）走勢的預期？另外，Joe，恭喜你接下新職務，也恭喜 Jim。回到成長與利潤率的問題，我想很清楚你們正專注於改善服務、提升客戶體驗。你認為這需要額外成本、並使 2023 年的利潤率必須先退一步來為未來成長鋪路嗎？還是你認為透過更順暢的網路運行所帶來的成本機會已足夠，讓明年的利潤率仍能改善？

I guess I'll take the coal one. I think you could expect -- we're hopeful that some volume step up given the network starting to get more fluidity and some of our producers starting to perform a little bit better. So at the margin, maybe a little bit of better volume there. You have access to the benchmark prices. So those have come down. They're still very, very healthy, but that would also impact what we would see in the fourth quarter from an export coal RPU perspective. So a little bit down probably sequentially there, given that we're already a little bit into the quarter and those numbers are down from third quarter.

我先回答煤炭的部分。我認為你可以預期——我們希望隨著網路開始更順暢、以及部分生產商的表現稍微改善，運量會有一些提升。所以在邊際上，煤炭運量可能會稍微好一些。你們也能看到基準價格（benchmark prices），那些價格已經下來了；雖然仍然非常健康，但這也會影響我們在第四季出口煤炭 RPU 的表現。因此，按季（sequentially）來看，可能會略為下滑，因為我們已經進入第四季一段時間，而這些數字相較第三季已經下降。

Yes. Thanks. So this is Joe again. From my perspective, first of all, be very clear, our goal is to leverage our strong operating model and our operating ratios to give ourselves some more capacity to give that incremental volume opportunity that should be very complementary to our margin performance. So we should not have to chase share by degrading our margin. In fact, that would not be wise. It takes a lot of volume to make up for a point of margin.

是的，謝謝。所以我再補充一次，這是 Joe。以我的觀點，首先要非常清楚，我們的目標是運用我們強健的營運模式與營運比率（operating ratios），讓自己有更多產能去承接那些增量運量機會，而這些機會應該能與我們的利潤率表現相輔相成。因此，我們不應該為了追求份額而犧牲利潤率。事實上，那並不明智。要用大量運量才能彌補 1 個百分點的利潤率。

So to be clear, we're really focused as you've heard over and over tonight about the opportunity to keep this momentum going and leverage our great operating model the team has put in place here to free up that capacity with the manpower to then allow for us to naturally provide more volume to our customers that they're asking for. And that's really what our focus is for the growth side.

所以講清楚，我們真正聚焦的是——正如你今晚一再聽到的——持續推進這股動能，並運用團隊在這裡建立的優秀營運模式，釋放產能與人力，讓我們能自然地為客戶提供他們所要求的更多運量。這就是我們在成長面真正的重點。

Your next question is from the line of Ari Rosa with Credit Suisse.

下一個問題來自瑞士信貸（Credit Suisse）的 Ari Rosa。

So Joe, I wanted to stick on this question of your background and your experience. But maybe you could talk about what are the learnings that you take from dealing with labor unions in the auto industry that you think carry over to railroads?

Joe，我想延續你背景與經驗的問題。不過也許你可以談談，你在汽車產業與勞工工會打交道的經驗中，有哪些學到的東西，你認為可以延伸到鐵路產業？

And then from a customer standpoint, maybe you could give a little more color on what you've shared with your new teammates at CSX about what the customer experience is like from a customer standpoint? And maybe what was being missed internally or if there was anything that was being kind of misunderstood internally about what that experience is like?

另外從客戶角度，你是否能更具體說明一下，你與 CSX 新同事分享的、關於客戶體驗在客戶端看起來是什麼樣子？以及內部是否有什麼被忽略的地方，或是內部是否對那種體驗有任何誤解？

Yes, thanks. So on the labor front, I really applaud Jim, over the last couple of quarters, he has spoken very openly about the need and the desire of this industry to have a better relationship with its union partners. It's a complex relationship. There are 12 different unions and there's industry bargaining. So those things are a little bit different than the auto industry.

是的，謝謝。就勞工面而言，我非常肯定 Jim；在過去幾季，他非常坦率地談到這個產業需要、也希望與工會夥伴建立更好的關係。這是一段複雜的關係。有 12 個不同的工會，而且還有產業層級的集體談判。因此，這些事情與汽車產業有些不同。

But at the core, I believe that if you can develop relationships and spend the time listening to each other, you can get into interest-based bargaining which this team has some success doing here at CSX to find solutions that are in the best interest on both parties and can find a win-win solutions. So we were able to do that. It took time, maybe decades to get there in the auto industry, but certainly, I was fortunate to be a part of that. And it won't take us that long here because we're already -- we've already experienced what we experienced lately. And I think we all recognize if we keep doing the same thing, we're going to end up in the same place in a couple of years, and I don't think any of us want that to happen.

但我認為核心在於：只要你能建立關係，並花時間彼此傾聽，就能進入以利益為基礎的協商；而這個團隊在 CSX 這裡已經在這方面取得一些成果，能找出符合雙方最佳利益的解決方案，並達成雙贏。所以我們做到了。這需要時間——在汽車產業也許花了數十年才走到那一步——但我很幸運能參與其中。而在這裡不會花那麼久，因為我們已經——我們最近已經經歷過我們所經歷的一切。我想我們都明白，如果我們一直做同樣的事，幾年後就會回到同樣的結果，而我不認為我們任何人希望那樣發生。

So big opportunity there and really leaning into that. I've already met with some of our key union leaders. And Jamie mentioned we've been out in the field talking to employees. We've been talking to union leaders here and out in the field and really just want to start building that relationship so we can form opportunity to work together to find solutions that are in the best interest of our employees.

所以這裡有很大的機會，我們也會真正投入其中。我已經和一些關鍵的工會領袖會面。Jamie 也提到我們一直在第一線與員工交流。我們在這裡以及在現場都與工會領袖對話，真的就是想開始建立那樣的關係，讓我們能創造一起合作、找出符合員工最佳利益之解決方案的機會。

If we put our employees first because they're the ones serving our customers every day, I believe we can mutually find areas of opportunity to make progress together.

如果我們把員工放在第一位，因為他們每天都在服務我們的客戶，我相信我們可以共同找出機會領域，一起推動進展。

And so on the customer side, challenging our team, especially Steve was coming on the technology side and all of us here to think about what would it take to be able to provide the type of service our customers should expect from us in 2022 and beyond, in terms of not only living up to our commitment around the trip plan compliance or having cars ready or those kind of things, but also around visibility, around transparency and communication because some of the frustrations that we experienced on the other side of this was really around transparency and visibility, and there's lots of opportunity for us to get better as an industry and frankly, as a company in that regard.

因此在客戶端，我們也在挑戰團隊——尤其是 Steve 在技術面加入後——以及在座各位，去思考：要做到在 2022 年及未來，提供客戶理應期待我們提供的服務，需要什麼條件？不僅是履行我們對行程計畫遵循（trip plan compliance）、車輛備妥等承諾，也包括可視性、透明度與溝通。因為我們在這段期間另一端所經歷的一些挫折，確實與透明度與可視性有關；在這方面，作為一個產業，坦白說也作為一家公司，我們都有很大的改善空間。

And just really go back to core principles of why we're here. We're in business to serve customers. And so they pay us to -- and they always pay us to honor our commitment and we need to do a better job of honoring that commitment. And you've heard Jamie talk about that a lot. You've heard Kevin reference it. And this team is really committed to delivering to our customers in a better way.

而且要真正回到我們為何在這裡的核心原則。我們做生意是為了服務客戶。所以他們付費給我們——而且他們一直付費給我們——是要我們信守承諾，而我們需要更好地履行這個承諾。你們聽 Jamie 談過很多次，也聽 Kevin 提到過。這個團隊非常致力於以更好的方式交付給客戶。

And CSX was able to show significant improvement really right before the pandemic. This place was showing dramatic improvement in those kind of metrics and then, of course, got little side-walled but that's going to happen with COVID. We want to get back to there. As Jamie said, that's our base camp. We want to get back to there and then we want to -- we expect ourselves to go further from there.

而 CSX 在疫情前其實已經展現出顯著改善。就在疫情前，這裡在那些指標上呈現戲劇性的進步；然後當然因為 COVID 而有些被打亂，但那是難免的。我們想回到那個狀態。正如 Jamie 所說，那是我們的基地營（base camp）。我們要回到那裡，然後——我們也期待自己能在那之上更進一步。

So it's really just keeping the employees and the customers at the forefront of everything we do because they're mutually exclusive on how they work together. If our employees are engaged and feeling good about the culture and about how they're working together, we can deliver better service to our customers, obviously, help with less attrition and attracting more people and all that stuff reinforces itself.

所以就是把員工與客戶放在我們所做一切事情的最前面，因為他們在如何一起運作上是相互連動的。如果員工投入、對文化與合作方式感到良好，我們就能為客戶提供更好的服務；顯然也能降低流失、吸引更多人，而這些都會形成正向循環。

Your next question comes from the line of Brandon Oglenski with Barclays.

下一個問題來自 Barclays 的 Brandon Oglenski。

Jim, I don't know if you're still on, but congrats on retirement. And if you want to comment on what you found the most successful the last 5 years and what was left unturned, I think we'd all appreciate it. And Joe, welcome to railroading. And I guess to your answer on that last question, how do you see the ONE CSX culture fitting into that customer relationship and focusing on the right priorities?

Jim，我不確定你是否還在線上，但恭喜你退休。如果你願意談談過去 5 年你認為最成功的是什麼、以及還有哪些未竟之處，我想大家都會很感激。Joe，也歡迎加入鐵路業。回到你剛才那個問題的回答，你如何看待 ONE CSX 文化融入客戶關係，並聚焦在正確的優先事項上？

Well, sure. I've just taken a little nap here. That's okay. The biggest success is what you're listening to today in this room. 5 years ago, there wasn't an executive team. It was me. These guys are all in new roles, all doing a phenomenal, phenomenal job. I said and oftentimes everybody -- our owners agree, this is the best railroad team. This is the best management team in the railroad business, and it's the thing that puts a big smile on my face, especially today when I'm getting out of here.

嗯，當然。我剛剛在這裡小睡了一下。沒關係。最大的成功，就是你今天在這個房間裡聽到的內容。5 年前，根本沒有一個高階管理團隊，只有我。這些人現在都在新角色上，而且都做得非常、非常出色。我說過——而且很多時候大家——我們的股東也同意：這是最好的鐵路團隊，這是鐵路業裡最好的管理團隊。這件事讓我笑得合不攏嘴，尤其是今天我要離開這裡的時候。

Thanks, Jim, and I thank you from the above of my heart because I'm equally excited about the team we have here, and I'm blessed to be able to work with everyone that you put together, and it is a great team.

謝謝你，Jim，我也打從心底感謝你，因為我對我們在這裡的團隊同樣感到興奮。我很有福氣能與你組建的每一位一起工作，這真的是一個很棒的團隊。

On your question on ONE CSX, the initiative -- the culture initiative was rolled out before I got here by the team, which I really appreciate the attention and the focus on that. At the end of the day, if we're going to make more progress as in rail industry and then here at CSX, we have to have a better relationship with our union partners and with our workforce out in the field doing the work that creates the value for our customers every day.

關於你對 ONE CSX 的問題，這項倡議——這個文化倡議是在我來之前由團隊推出的，我非常感謝他們對此的重視與聚焦。歸根結底，如果我們要在鐵路產業、以及在 CSX 這裡取得更多進展，我們必須與工會夥伴、以及在第一線從事每天為客戶創造價值工作的員工，建立更好的關係。

So really focusing our energy on CSX about being -- recognizing we're all part of one team. We're all valuable. We should all be appreciated, and we should all be respected and really getting our team to recognize that if we're here to serve and make -- and help make our employees in the field more successful that ultimately, the company and our customers will be more successful. And really channeling that energy in that way. We have a great operating model. We have a great process. We have great people. And if we can get people working better together, solving problems, helping us deliver better for our customers, I believe, and I think our team -- I know our team believes that we can have a better railroad and better performance over all on all aspects of our business.

所以我們真的把能量聚焦在 CSX：認知到我們都是同一個團隊的一部分。我們都很重要，都應該被感謝，也都應該被尊重；並讓團隊真正理解，如果我們在這裡是為了服務——並幫助第一線員工更成功——那麼最終公司與客戶也會更成功。並把能量導向這個方向。我們有很棒的營運模式、很棒的流程、很棒的人才。如果我們能讓大家更好地一起工作、解決問題、幫助我們為客戶交付得更好，我相信——而且我想我們團隊——我知道我們團隊相信——我們能打造更好的鐵路，並在業務各方面帶來更好的整體表現。

So that's the real impetus around ONE CSX is bringing our team together after all we've been through with the transformation of the operating model and COVID and labor negotiations and all these things to build from where we are and say, we're going to be one team working together, supporting each other, appreciating each other and delivering for our customers. And ultimately, that will deliver better performance financially for our business and for our shareholders. And it really starts internally. If we're going to provide better service, we have to really engage with our employees to make that happen.

所以 ONE CSX 的真正動力，就是在我們經歷了營運模式轉型、COVID、勞資談判等種種之後，把團隊凝聚起來，從現有基礎再往上建立，並說：我們要成為一個團隊一起工作、彼此支持、彼此感謝，並為客戶交付。最終，這也會為我們的業務與股東帶來更好的財務表現。而這一切要從內部開始。如果我們要提供更好的服務，就必須真正與員工互動，讓這件事發生。

Your next question comes from the line of Fadi Chamoun with BMO.

下一個問題來自 BMO 的 Fadi Chamoun。

Congratulations to both Jim and Joe on the role and the retirement.

恭喜 Jim 與 Joe 分別就任與退休。

I want to ask a question about seeing that's going on all night on this call. I think there is, I believe, agreement generally that rails can grow share across many markets because of cost, environmental benefits and so on. But I think the issue has been and what we hear all way from shippers is not just the level of service, but the consistency, the consistency of service over seasons, over cycles. And I'm not sure coming out of this pandemic and some of these labor issues we've experienced in the last year was a -- you approach that kind of different framework for the operation and kind of capacity going forward.

我想問一個關於今晚這通電話中一直在談的主題。我認為，普遍來說大家同意：鐵路因為成本、環境效益等等，可以在許多市場提升市占。但我想問題在於——也是我們一路從貨主那裡聽到的——不只是服務水準，而是穩定性：跨季節、跨景氣循環的服務一致性。我不確定在走出這次疫情、以及我們去年經歷的一些勞動問題之後，你們是否會用一個不同的框架來看待未來的營運與產能。

Is there kind of framework where you look at search capacity, maybe differently than you have in the past? Or is there an opportunity maybe on labor agreement to change how availability of cruise is managed through those times to remove some of that volatility that we see in service, which I think has been probably a big hindrance to the growth in the past?

是否有某種框架，讓你們在檢視／配置產能時，可能會用不同於過去的方式？或者在勞動協議上是否有機會，改變在那些期間如何管理乘務員（crew）的可用性，以降低我們在服務上看到的波動性？我認為這可能一直是過去成長的一大阻礙。

Well, I'll take this one on, Fadi.

Fadi，這題我來回答。

I believe from -- no, we're coming out of this stronger than we ever have, and we're coming out of this learning lessons, okay? If we haven't learned lessons along the way, as an industry, it's not just CSX, than we haven't been watching or listening to our customers and seeing what's going on out there. So yes, is there opportunities with their union agreements? There absolutely is. Let's get past the ratification now before you get any comments.

我認為——不，我們正以前所未有的更強姿態走出這段期間，而且我們也帶著學到的教訓走出來，好嗎？如果一路走來我們沒有學到教訓——以整個產業而言，不只是 CSX——那就表示我們沒有在觀察或傾聽客戶、也沒有看到外面正在發生什麼。所以，是的，工會協議上有沒有機會？絕對有。不過在你得到任何評論之前，先讓我們把批准（ratification）這一步走完。

But as Joe mentioned, the relationships between our unions and as we continue to do things differently and improve those relationships, it's going to open up opportunity for us to retain employees like we haven't been able to before and provide possibly a schedule, and Jim has talked about this a number of times, provide a better schedule for our employees. So when they come to work, they come to work with a smile on their face. They come to work rested, they come to work being that facing -- the face that delivers cars to our customers to the docks and they have a positive attitude and they're wanting to grow this company. And believe me, our employees want us to grow. There is no question about it. They want us to give them the tools to grow and they want us to give them the opportunities to do that.

但正如 Joe 提到的，隨著我們與工會之間的關係改善、並持續以不同方式做事、提升這些關係，這將為我們帶來機會，讓我們能以前所未有的方式留住員工，並可能提供一個排班——Jim 也談過很多次——為員工提供更好的排班。這樣他們來上班時臉上帶著笑容；他們來上班時精神充足；他們來上班時能以正面的形象——作為把車輛交付到客戶碼頭的那張臉——並帶著正向態度，願意推動公司成長。相信我，我們的員工希望我們成長，毫無疑問。他們希望我們給他們成長所需的工具，也希望我們給他們做到這件事的機會。

So that's a big opportunity as we move forward. We are staffing up. We are staffing up to make sure that we can handle the demand that Kevin and his team brings forward to the operating team. Kevin and I talk every single day. Weekly, we go through numbers together. Our teams are very close. We know where the opportunities are out there. A number of great announcements that have been made through Kevin and his team through some big wins on customers who are opening up facilities on us. So going forward, over the next couple of years, those are great opportunities. And we're going to make sure we're staffed up for that. We've got locomotives in storage. I've said that a number of times.

因此，隨著我們持續向前推進，這是一個很大的機會。我們正在擴編人力。我們擴編人力是為了確保我們能夠承接 Kevin 和他的團隊帶給營運團隊的需求。Kevin 和我每天都會溝通。每週我們會一起檢視數據。我們的團隊合作非常緊密。我們知道外面有哪些機會。Kevin 和他的團隊已經發布了多項很棒的公告，包含在客戶端取得一些重大勝利，這些客戶正在我們的網路上新設/啟用設施。因此，展望未來，在接下來幾年，這些都是很好的機會。我們也會確保為此做好人力配置。我們有機車存放在庫。我已經說過很多次了。

I think when I took Joe into Waycross, and he saw the number of locomotives we had in storage out there, it's a surprise. I like to call that the field of dreams. And one day, maybe we'll have all those locomotives pulling freight and pulling tonnage out there. And if we get to that point, we know that we've really grown this company beyond where we think we can. So we are continuing to prep ourselves to move freight.

我想當我帶 Joe 去 Waycross，他看到我們在那裡存放的機車數量時，確實很驚訝。我喜歡把那裡稱為「夢想之地」。也許有一天，我們會讓那些機車全部出來拉貨、拉運量。而如果我們真的走到那一步，我們就知道我們已經把這家公司成長到超出我們原本以為能達到的程度。所以我們會持續做好準備來運輸貨物。

I think I answered the question on what happens if there's a bit of a downturn in business, we're going to stay forward-looking, and we're going to try to drive this opportunity like it's never been done before. And if there is a softening, we're going to make sure that we are fully prepared no matter how it comes to provide that service to the customers like they've never seen before. And that's our goal. And you're right, that's the theme you've heard tonight. And I'm happy that you said that that is the theme you've heard because I believe all my colleagues and everyone around the table here, we all believe the same thing.

我想我已經回答了如果業務出現一些下滑會怎麼辦這個問題：我們會保持前瞻性，並且會以前所未有的方式去推動這個機會。如果真的出現趨緩，我們也會確保無論情況如何，我們都已充分準備好，以客戶前所未見的方式提供服務。這就是我們的目標。你說得對，這就是你今晚聽到的主軸。我也很高興你這麼說，因為我相信我的所有同事，以及在座各位，我們都相信同一件事。

Your next question comes from the line of Ravi Shanker with Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題來自 Morgan Stanley 的 Ravi Shanker。

A couple of quick ones. Joe, probably the last one, hopefully, you'll have to do is still wearing your auto hat on, but can you just help share with us what do you think the future of autos as an end market is for the railroads, i.e., near-shoring production basis, when do you think the chip shortage eases, et cetera, et cetera, and kind of how that industry kind of ramps up in the near term and long term?

有幾個很快的問題。Joe，可能是最後一題了，希望如此。你仍然戴著你的汽車產業帽子，可以請你跟我們分享一下，你認為汽車作為鐵路的終端市場未來會如何發展嗎？例如近岸外包/回流生產基地，你認為晶片短缺何時會緩解等等，以及這個產業在短期與長期會如何爬升？

And as a follow-up, any commentary on I think the rails rejected BMW kind of asks in the labor contract and then like summer cycling does increases like you have a strike, kind of how does that eventually end up?

另外追問一下，你能否評論一下，我想鐵路方拒絕了 BMW 在勞動合約中的一些要求，然後像夏季循環那樣會出現加薪、甚至罷工之類的情況，最後會如何收場？

Okay. I'll take the second one first, and then I'll talk about the autos.

好的。我先回答第二個，然後再談汽車。

As Jamie mentioned, we're going to let the process play itself out. We have a lot of respect for our union leaders, and we've reached tentative agreements and they're in the ratification process. I think Union Pacific talked a little bit about some of the issues with BMW ED this morning. And I think the opportunity here is for us to really just work together to let the process play out. I want to respect that process on the union labor side.

如 Jamie 所提到的，我們會讓流程自然走完。我們非常尊重工會領導人，我們也已達成暫定協議，目前正在進行批准（ratification）程序。我想 Union Pacific 今天早上也稍微談到一些與 BMW ED 相關的議題。我認為我們在這裡的重點，就是真正一起合作，讓流程走完。我希望在工會勞動這一端尊重這個程序。

On the auto side, I mean, there's a lot of things going on. I mean, there's been a number of significant investments announcements in -- especially the Southeast, many of which have been -- we've been a beneficiary of having a relationship with or having the rail access to, whether it's on EV batteries or whether it's on new manufacturing assembly plants.

在汽車方面，確實有很多事情正在發生。已經有不少重大投資公告——尤其是在美國東南部——其中很多我們都受益於既有關係或我們能提供的鐵路可達性，不論是電動車電池，或是新的製造組裝工廠。

So I think you'll continue to see, obviously with the government's help, increased production for things that support electrification of the automotive industry, and we are well-positioned to take advantage of that, frankly, with how these are playing out.

所以我認為你會持續看到，在政府的協助下，支持汽車產業電動化的相關產品產量會增加；而我們也具備良好條件來把握這些機會，坦白說，從目前的發展來看確實如此。

I'm not going to comment on the chip shortage, but you are hearing from the autos that production is picking up. We're seeing more opportunity to deliver more vehicles. So that's a good thing for us in the near term. And we're watching what's happening on the demand side, but certainly, we're seeing increased opportunity to deliver more vehicles for our automotive customers here at CSX. And longer term, of course, there's significant investment going in electrification. And we're seeing, again, that opportunity to be a part of that as CSX has been a successful part of a number of these announcements. So that will continue, and we're excited to be a part of it.

我不會評論晶片短缺，但你也從車廠那邊聽到生產正在回升。我們看到有更多機會可以交付更多車輛。因此，短期來看這對我們是好事。我們也在觀察需求端的變化，但可以確定的是，我們在 CSX 這裡看到為汽車客戶交付更多車輛的機會正在增加。長期而言，電動化方面當然有大量投資正在投入。我們也再次看到能參與其中的機會，因為 CSX 已成功參與多項相關公告。因此這個趨勢會持續，我們也很期待能成為其中一部分。

Your final question comes from the line of David Vernon with Bernstein.

最後一個問題來自 Bernstein 的 David Vernon。

Jim, congratulations and good luck. Hopefully, we can stay in touch down the road.

Jim，恭喜你，也祝你一切順利。希望之後我們還能保持聯繫。

Wanted to come back to you, Jamie, on the headcount. The guidance is we're going to continue to increase transportation head count to restore service. Can you frame what your expectations are for how large you need to get the headcount to get the service levels where you want it to be. And as you think about adding those resources into next year, should we be expecting the training rooms to be as full in terms of the productivity drag that we're going to be trying to model out here?

我想回到人力編制這個問題，Jamie。指引是我們將持續增加運輸部門的人力以恢復服務。你能否說明一下，你預期人力需要增加到多大規模，才能把服務水準提升到你希望的程度？另外，當你考慮在明年加入這些資源時，我們是否應該預期訓練教室仍會很滿，也就是在生產力拖累方面，我們在模型中需要如何反映？

Well, thank you for that one. I would say our target, as we said, at the end of this year, 7,000 active T&E. We are pushing up to 7,200 as we move forward. And look, we're doing locomotive engineered training. We don't want to get ourselves caught behind on that. We're still good for a number of years, but we want to take advantage of that. And the trickiest part of headcount on the railroad is getting the headcount in the right spot. And as market conditions change and as things move around out in the field, we're very fortunate that right now we have over 60 employees who have taken temporary transfers to areas where we're short right now, and we're hiring. And we're taking advantage of some of those areas where we do have excess employees.

好的，謝謝這個問題。我會說我們的目標，如同我們所說的，是在今年年底達到 7,000 名在職的 T&E（運輸與引擎）人員。我們在往前推進時，正朝 7,200 人邁進。你看，我們正在做機車司機（locomotive engineer）訓練，我們不希望在這方面落後。我們目前仍可支撐好幾年，但我們想把握這個機會。鐵路人力最棘手的部分，是把人力配置在正確的位置。隨著市場狀況改變、現場情況變動，我們很幸運的是，目前有超過 60 名員工已暫時調派到我們目前人力短缺的地區，同時我們也在招募。我們也在利用一些我們有人力盈餘的區域。

So I'm quite happy with where our numbers are heading. And let's see what that number looks like as we continue to move forward and see where our attrition rate continues to take us to. But yes, absolutely heading into next year, we will see our class sizes most likely start to decline to more normalized attrition rate. We're going to make sure that we keep up with attrition. We don't want to fall behind on that. And we mentioned that that's an 8% to 10% depending on which area of the network as we continue to rightsize and rightsize in the right place.

所以我對我們的人數走勢相當滿意。接下來就看看，隨著我們持續向前推進，以及離職率（attrition rate）持續影響我們時，最終會落在什麼數字。但沒錯，絕對地，進入明年後，我們的班級規模很可能會開始下降，回到較正常的離職補充水準。我們會確保跟上離職補充，我們不想在這方面落後。我們也提到，依網路不同區域而定，離職率大約是 8% 到 10%，同時我們會持續進行適當的規模調整（rightsize），並且在正確的地方進行調整。

So yes, you will see our class sizes start to drop when we start hitting those numbers, and we feel quite confident that we're heading in the right direction with those numbers. I wish I had the headcount today that we needed, but it will take a little bit of time and we'll get there. But you will see those class sizes drop to normalize class sizes as we move forward.

所以是的，當我們開始達到那些人數目標時，你會看到我們的班級規模開始下降；而我們也相當有信心，我們的人數正朝正確方向前進。我希望今天就已經有人力達到我們所需，但這需要一點時間，我們會做到的。不過隨著我們往前走，你會看到班級規模下降並回到正常化的班級規模。

And if I could just squeeze one little one in there at the end here. As you think about the attrition rates on the recent graduates, have you seen any -- or noticed any differences as a result of some of the changes that are coming in the contract? Or are you seeing like maybe some of the labor stick around a little bit longer than maybe we saw earlier in the pandemic when you were trying to ramp up?

如果我可以在最後再塞一個小問題：當你看近期畢業新進人員的離職率時，你是否看到任何——或注意到任何——因為合約中一些變更而產生的差異？或者你是否看到勞動力可能比疫情早期你們在擴編時更願意多留一段時間？

Yes. We're definitely seeing it change lately, and I would not necessarily put that to the contract at this point in time since it's still out for ratification. I think that is a hard work that our labor group has done and the great relationships that we're continuing to build with our union groups on changing pay scales. The pay scale where we went from a step scale of 80%. It takes over 5 years before we get to 100%. As soon as we started offering to our new hires that they would make the same money as the person sitting next to them in the cab, we definitely saw a change in our retention rate in a positive way. So we are doing things differently. And I think as we continue to make some of those changes and build those relationships, that's only going to get better as we move forward.

是的。我們最近確實看到有所改變，但我目前不一定會把這歸因於合約，因為它仍在等待批准。我認為這更多是我們勞資團隊努力的成果，以及我們持續與工會團體建立的良好關係，特別是在調整薪資級距方面。我們的薪資級距原本是階梯式的 80%，要超過 5 年才會到 100%。當我們開始向新進人員提供「他們可以拿到與駕駛室裡坐在旁邊的人相同的薪資」時，我們確實看到留任率出現正向變化。所以我們正在用不同的方式做事。我認為隨著我們持續推動這些改變並建立這些關係，未來只會越來越好。

I would now like to turn the call back over to Mr. Matthew Korn.

我現在想把電話會議交回給 Matthew Korn 先生。

Thank you, operator, and thank you, everyone, for your interest in CSX. We look forward to speaking with you again on our next quarter. Thank you.

謝謝接線員，也謝謝各位對 CSX 的關注。我們期待在下一季再次與各位交流。謝謝。

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for participating. This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.

各位女士、先生，感謝您的參與。本次電話會議到此結束。您現在可以掛線。