聯合太平洋集團 (UNP) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Greetings. Welcome to Union Pacific's Third Quarter Earnings call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded, and the slides for today's presentation will be available on Union Pacific's website.

問候。歡迎參加聯合太平洋第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）謹此提醒，本次會議正在錄製中，今天演示的幻燈片將在聯合太平洋公司的網站上提供。

It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Mr. Jim Vena, Chief Executive Officer for Union Pacific. Thank you, Mr. Vena, you may now begin.

現在我很高興向大家介紹你們的東道主，聯合太平洋公司執行長吉姆‧維納先生。謝謝您，維納先生，您現在可以開始了。

Rob, thank you very much, and good morning, and good morning to everyone that's joined us, and thank you for joining us today to discuss Union Pacific's Third Quarter Results. I'm joined in Omaha by our Chief Financial Officer, Jennifer Hamann; our Executive Vice President of Marketing and Sales, Kenny Rocker and our Executive Vice President of Operations, Eric Gehringer.

羅布，非常感謝您，早上好，所有加入我們的人早上好，感謝您今天加入我們討論聯合太平洋第三季度業績。我們的財務長 Jennifer Hamann 與我一起來到奧馬哈；我們的行銷和銷售執行副總裁 Kenny Rocker 和我們的營運執行副總裁 Eric Gehringer。

It's been a busy couple of months since rejoining Union Pacific. I'm very excited to be back, to come back to work with over 40 years of railroading experience, including 2 years here at UP. I know this railroad, I understand the opportunity. To win, you need a strong management team, the right culture and a great franchise, and that's the goal, win and be the best in the industry.

自從重新加入聯合太平洋以來，這幾個月過得很忙碌。我很高興能回來，帶著 40 多年的鐵路經驗回來工作，其中包括在 UP 的 2 年。我了解這條鐵路，我了解這個機會。要獲勝，您需要強大的管理團隊、正確的文化和出色的特許經營權，這就是我們的目標：獲勝並成為業界最佳。

Since I started, I've spoken with employees, customers, regulators, community officials and investors. And my message has been consistent. It starts with safety. Our goal is to be the safest railroad in North America. That's the standard we should set for ourselves. We also expect to be the best in service and operational excellence. Service is delivering what we sold to our customers. Operational excellence is using our resources and assets as efficiently as possible. It's being mindful of our cost and developing our people.

自入職以來，我與員工、客戶、監管機構、社區官員和投資者進行了交談。我的信息是一致的。它從安全開始。我們的目標是成為北美最安全的鐵路。這就是我們應該為自己設定的標準。我們也期望在服務和卓越營運方面成為最好的。服務是將我們銷售的產品交付給客戶。卓越營運是指盡可能有效率地利用我們的資源和資產。它關注我們的成本並培養我們的員工。

A key early initiative of mine is to drive decision-making lower in the organization. This means reducing layers and simplifying how we work. We need to deliver value with speed. This is a cultural change to empower our people. We recognize that our business volumes fluctuate, and weather presents its challenges. So we will always keep a buffer of resources to manage those situations. This commitment to safety, service and operational excellence will lead to growth. And for you, our owners, that generates industry-leading returns. There's work to be done, but the entire team understands our strategy for success.

我的一個重要的早期措施是降低組織中的決策層。這意味著減少層級並簡化我們的工作方式。我們需要快速交付價值。這是一場文化變革，目的是賦予我們的人民權力。我們認識到我們的業務量存在波動，天氣也帶來了挑戰。因此，我們將始終保留一定的資源來應對這些情況。這種對安全、服務和卓越營運的承諾將帶來成長。對於我們的所有者您來說，這會帶來行業領先的回報。雖然還有很多工作要做，但整個團隊都了解我們的成功策略。

Now let's discuss third quarter results, starting on Slide 3. This morning, Union Pacific reported 2023 third quarter net income of $1.5 billion or $2.51 per share. This compares to 2022 third quarter net income of $1.9 billion or $3.05 per share. Our third quarter operating revenue declined 10%, reflecting lower fuel surcharge revenue, reduced volumes and decreased other revenue. Expenses also were lower year-over-year driven by fuel expense and last year's onetime charge for labor agreements. But there's an ongoing mismatch in our cost structure, resulting in an operating ratio of 63.4% as we continue to be challenged by inflation, including pressure from new labor agreements and higher casualty costs.

現在讓我們從投影片 3 開始討論第三季業績。今天上午，聯合太平洋公司公佈 2023 年第三季淨利為 15 億美元，即每股 2.51 美元。相比之下，2022 年第三季淨利為 19 億美元，即每股 3.05 美元。我們第三季的營業收入下降了 10%，反映出燃油附加費收入下降、銷售減少以及其他收入減少。由於燃料費用和去年的一次性勞務協議費用，費用也較去年同期下降。但我們的成本結構持續存在不匹配，導致我們的營運率為 63.4%，因為我們繼續受到通貨膨脹的挑戰，包括新的勞工協議和更高的傷亡成本的壓力。

Additionally, the lag on our fuel surcharge program negatively impacted results as fuel prices rose during the quarter. No doubt about it. It was a tough quarter, but I'm pleased with the positive productivity we're quickly gaining. Our service performance also is strengthening as we're positioning ourselves to meet customer demand while at the same time, storing assets. I'll let Eric and Kenny discuss both in more detail.

此外，由於本季燃油價格上漲，燃油附加費計畫的延遲對業績產生了負面影響。毫無疑問。這是一個艱難的季度，但我對我們迅速獲得的積極生產力感到滿意。我們的服務績效也不斷增強，因為我們將自己定位為滿足客戶需求，同時儲存資產。我會讓艾瑞克和肯尼更詳細地討論這兩個問題。

Ultimately, we're taking the right actions to build from here. So with that, let me hand it to Jennifer to provide more details on the third quarter financials.

最終，我們將採取正確的行動，從這裡開始建造。因此，讓我將其交給詹妮弗，以提供有關第三季度財務狀況的更多詳細資訊。

Thanks, Jim, and good morning. I'm going to discuss our third quarter results by walking through the income statement on Slide 5. Starting with operating revenue of $5.9 billion, down 10% versus last year on a 3% year-over-year volume decline. Breaking it down further, as illustrated in the appendix slides, freight revenue totaled $5.5 billion, down 9% versus 2022. Total fuel surcharge revenue of $637 million declined $515 million from last year. The impact of lower year-over-year fuel prices as well as the lag in our surcharge programs reduced freight revenue 8%. The combination of price and mix increased freight revenue, 150 basis points as solid core pricing gains were partially offset by an unfavorable business mix.

謝謝，吉姆，早安。我將透過瀏覽投影片 5 上的損益表來討論我們第三季的業績。營業收入為 59 億美元，比去年下降 10%，銷量年減 3%。進一步細分，如附錄投影片所示，貨運收入總計 55 億美元，比 2022 年下降 9%。燃油附加費總收入為 6.37 億美元，比去年減少 5.15 億美元。燃油價格年減以及附加費計劃滯後的影響使貨運收入減少了 8%。價格和組合的結合使貨運收入增加了 150 個基點，因為穩固的核心定價收益被不利的業務組合部分抵消了。

Increased short-haul rock moves and fewer lumber carloads outweighed the impact of moving fewer low average revenue per car intermodal shipments. In addition, our pricing gains continue to include the impact of certain coal and intermodal contracts that are more reflective of current market conditions. Wrapping up the top line, other revenue decreased 13% versus last year, driven by a $70 million year-over-year reduction in accessorials.

短途岩石運輸的增加和木材車裝載量的減少抵消了每輛車多式聯運運輸的低平均收入減少的影響。此外，我們的定價收益繼續包括某些煤炭和多式聯運合約的影響，這些合約更能反映當前的市場狀況。總而言之，由於配件年減 7,000 萬美元，其他收入比去年下降了 13%。

Switching to expenses, where again, more detailed information can be found in the appendix Operating expense of $3.8 billion declined 4%, driven by lower fuel prices, last year's onetime charge for labor agreements and volume-related costs. Digging deeper into a few of the expense lines, compensation and benefits expense decreased $77 million versus 2022, which does include last year's $114 million onetime labor charge. Third quarter workforce levels increased 3% and our active TE&Y workforce is up 2% as we graduated new train crew personnel during the quarter. At this point, with our train crews more appropriately staffed, our training pipeline is shrinking. Today, we have just over 500 employees in training, down more than 50% from last quarter's pipeline of roughly 1,200. Excluding the impact of last year's labor charge, cost per employee was essentially flat in the third quarter as we are starting to generate better overall productivity.

轉向費用，更詳細的資訊可以在附錄中找到。由於燃料價格下降、去年的勞務協議費用和數量相關成本下降，營業費用為 38 億美元，下降了 4%。深入研究一些費用項目，薪資和福利費用比 2022 年減少了 7700 萬美元，其中確實包括去年 1.14 億美元的一次性人工費用。第三季的勞動力水準增加了 3%，隨著我們在本季培養新的培訓人員，我們的活躍 TE&Y 勞動力增加了 2%。目前，隨著我們的列車工作人員配備更加合適，我們的培訓管道正在縮小。如今，我們有超過 500 名員工正在接受培訓，比上個季度約 1,200 名員工減少了 50% 以上。排除去年人工費用的影響，第三季每位員工的成本基本上持平，因為我們開始產生更好的整體生產力。

As a result, we now expect full year cost per employee to be up closer to 3%. Both third quarter and full year cost per employee reflect elevated workforce levels and better crew efficiency, partially offset by wage inflation, which includes $20 million in the third quarter from paid sick leave. Fuel expense in the quarter decreased 25% on a 21% decrease in fuel prices from $3.96 a gallon to $3.12. Our fuel consumption rate was flat, but showed positive momentum through the quarter as we stored locomotives and improved freight car velocity.

因此，我們現在預計全年每位員工的成本將上漲接近 3%。第三季和全年每位員工的成本都反映了勞動力水準的提高和員工效率的提高，但部分被薪資上漲所抵消，其中包括第三季帶薪病假帶來的 2,000 萬美元。由於燃油價格從每加侖 3.96 美元降至 3.12 美元，下降了 21%，該季度的燃油費用下降了 25%。我們的燃料消耗率持平，但隨著我們儲存機車和提高貨車速度，整個季度呈現出積極的勢頭。

Finally, other expense grew 18%, primarily related to continued pressure in casualty costs. It also reflects the impact of onetime write-offs as highlighted in the financial walk down slide on 22 in the appendix. The resulting outcome is third quarter operating income of $2.2 billion, down 17% versus last year. Below the line, other income decreased $18 million driven by last year's $35 million gain from a real estate transaction. Interest expense increased 6%, reflecting higher average debt levels. Income taxes are lower in the quarter on reduced income and lower tax rates that resulted in a $41 million deferred tax expense reduction. Similar to last year's $40 million tax reduction, we again had 3 states cut corporate income tax rates in the third quarter.

最後，其他費用增加了 18%，主要與傷亡費用的持續壓力有關。它還反映了附錄 22 日財務下滑幻燈片中強調的一次性沖銷的影響。最終結果是第三季營業收入為 22 億美元，比去年下降 17%。線下，由於去年房地產交易帶來的 3,500 萬美元收益，其他收入減少了 1,800 萬美元。利息支出增加 6%，反映平均債務水準較高。由於收入減少和稅率降低，本季所得稅有所下降，從而減少了 4,100 萬美元的遞延稅費用。與去年4000萬美元的減稅類似，第三季我們又有3個州降低了企業所得稅率。

Net income of $1.5 billion declined 19% versus 2022, which when combined with a lower average share count resulted in an 18% decrease in earnings per share to $2.51. Third quarter operating ratio increased 3.5 points to 63.4%. Core results, which include the impact of inflation, lower volumes and cost inefficiencies accounted for the majority of the year-over-year change.

淨利潤為 15 億美元，較 2022 年下降 19%，加上平均股數減少，導致每股收益下降 18% 至 2.51 美元。第三季營運率上升3.5個百分點至63.4%。核心業績，包括通貨膨脹的影響、銷售下降和成本效率低下，是較去年同期變動的主因。

Turning now to Slide 6 and cash flows. Year-to-date, cash from operations totaled $6 billion, a decrease of roughly $1 billion from 2022. The combination of lower net income and nearly $450 million of labor payments were the main drivers. Free cash flow and our cash flow conversion rate also were impacted. Year-to-date, we've returned a little more than half of the cash generated or $3.1 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases, and we finished the third quarter with an adjusted debt-to-EBITDA ratio up slightly from 2022 levels at 3x as we continue to be A rated by our 3 credit agencies.

現在轉向幻燈片 6 和現金流。年初至今，營運現金總額為 60 億美元，比 2022 年減少約 10 億美元。淨利潤下降和近 4.5 億美元的人工付款是主要推動因素。自由現金流和我們的現金流轉換率也受到了影響。今年迄今為止，我們已透過股息和股票回購向股東返還了略多於一半的現金（即 31 億美元），第三季結束時，調整後的債務與 EBITDA 比率較 2022 年水準略有上升3 倍，因為我們繼續被3 家信用機構評為A 級。

Wrapping up now on Slide 7. The overall financial story and outlook for the remainder of 2023 is largely unchanged. We're facing a demand environment where we don't expect full year volumes to exceed industrial production. We do, however, still expect to generate pricing dollars in excess of inflation dollars. Although as we've discussed through the year, not to the level that offsets the negative impact of elevated costs on our operating ratio.

現在結束投影片 7。2023 年剩餘時間的整體財務狀況和前景基本上沒有變化。我們面臨的需求環境是，我們預計全年產量不會超過工業產量。然而，我們仍然預期定價美元將超過通膨美元。儘管正如我們一年來所討論的那樣，但還沒有達到抵消成本上升對我們營運比率的負面影響的水平。

Fuel also remains a headwind on earnings per share, although moderating from the $0.34 negative EPS impact in the third quarter to approximately $0.10 of negative year-over-year impact in the fourth quarter. And that assumes fuel prices in the fourth quarter are around $3.30 a gallon. And significant inflation headwinds remain primarily in the form of the new labor agreements. We expect similar levels for fourth quarter paid sick leave expense to third quarter and the impact of the BLET work-rest agreements will primarily be seen through elevated force levels.

儘管燃油對每股盈餘的負面影響從第三季 0.34 美元下降到第四季約 0.10 美元，但仍對每股盈餘構成不利影響。假設第四季度的燃油價格約為每加侖 3.30 美元。重大的通膨阻力仍主要以新勞工協議的形式出現。我們預計第四季度帶薪病假費用的水平與第三季度相似，而 BLET 工作休息協議的影響將主要透過勞動力水準的提高來體現。

Finally, our capital plan is coming in a little bit higher at $3.7 billion. All that said, the important takeaway from today's results and our view of tomorrow is that we're making gains from maximizing growth opportunities and repricing our business to improving service and generating productivity, we're striving to build on the current momentum as we end 2023 and enter 2024 on a path to further financial improvement.

最後，我們的資本計畫略高一些，達到 37 億美元。話雖如此，從今天的業績和我們對明天的看法中得到的重要結論是，我們正在通過最大化增長機會和重新定價我們的業務以改善服務和提高生產力來獲得收益，我們正在努力在當前的勢頭基礎上繼續努力2023 年並進入 2024 年，財務狀況進一步改善。

With that, I'll turn it over to Kenny to give us a view of the business environment.

接下來，我將把它交給肯尼，讓我們了解商業環境。

Thank you, Jennifer, and good morning. You just heard from Jennifer that freight revenue declined 9% with a 3% decrease in volume for the third quarter. Let's jump right into the business team to recap the market drivers on the revenue side. Starting with bulk. Revenue for the quarter was down 10% compared to last year, driven by a 6% decrease in average revenue per car due to lower fuel surcharges and a 4% decline in volume. Grain exports were softer than last year due to tight supply. Coal volume was down 5% for the quarter by continued decline for the use of coal in electricity generation combined with competitive pressures from lower natural gas prices. Lastly, we saw a reduction in import beer carloads due to the increased utilization of larger railcars, which creates value for both the customer and Union Pacific.

謝謝你，詹妮弗，早安。您剛從 Jennifer 那裡聽說，第三季貨運收入下降了 9%，貨運量下降了 3%。讓我們直接進入業務團隊，回顧一下收入方面的市場驅動因素。從批量開始。燃油附加費降低導致每輛車平均收入下降 6%，銷量下降 4%，導致本季營收比去年下降 10%。由於供應緊張，糧食出口比去年疲軟。由於發電用煤量持續下降，加上天然氣價格下降帶來的競爭壓力，本季煤炭用量下降了 5%。最後，由於大型鐵路車的利用率增加，我們看到進口啤酒車的裝載量減少，這為客戶和聯合太平洋公司創造了價值。

Industrial revenue was down for the quarter, driven by a 6% decrease in average revenue per car. Core pricing gains in the quarter were offset by lower fuel surcharges and a negative mix in volumes. Softer decline for lumber and corrugated boxes continues to be a challenge, but our relentless focus on business development is driving excellent growth in our rock network that supports construction of new emerging LNG facilities along the Texas Gulf and growth in the petroleum products for both domestic and Mexico energy reform.

本季工業收入下降，原因是每輛車平均收入下降 6%。本季核心定價的上漲被燃油附加費降低和銷售下降所抵銷。木材和瓦楞紙箱的下滑仍然是一個挑戰，但我們對業務發展的不懈關注正在推動我們的岩石網絡的出色增長，該網絡支持德克薩斯灣沿岸新興液化天然氣設施的建設以及國內和國外石油產品的成長墨西哥能源改革。

Premium revenue for the quarter was down 12% on a 4% decrease in volume and a 9% decrease in average revenue per car from fuel surcharges in a challenging truck market. Automotive volumes were positive with continued strength in OEM production and dealer inventory replenishment for finished vehicles and auto parts. In addition, a robust business development pipeline like winning both wagon shipments from the Texas Gulf enabled us to outperform the market in the quarter. Intermodal volumes were down in the quarter, primarily driven by softness in parcel segment and weak imports on the West Coast. However, domestic truckload volume was slightly up driven by business development wins and strength in our Mexico shipments.

本季保費收入下降 12%，銷量下降 4%，在充滿挑戰的卡車市場中，燃油附加費導致每輛車的平均收入下降 9%。由於整車和汽車零件的 OEM 生產和經銷商庫存補充持續強勁，汽車銷售量呈正成長。此外，強大的業務發展管道（例如贏得德克薩斯灣的兩輛貨車發貨）使我們能夠在本季度跑贏市場。本季多式聯運量下降，主要是因為包裹市場疲軟和西海岸進口疲軟。然而，由於業務發展的勝利和墨西哥貨運量的強勁，國內卡車裝載量略有上升。

Turning to Slide 10. Here is our outlook for the fourth quarter as we see it today. Starting with bulk, we anticipate continued challenges in coal as natural gas futures remain volatile. We are watching grain closely as we enter the export season. Crops are being harvested right now and increased supplies will be available to move. U.S. soybean export sales have started out before than forecasted. However, we have an improved service product this year to capture more available demand. Lastly, our forecast for renewable biofuel feedstock continues to remain strong. we see solid demand in this market and continue to capture new business. We recently landed opportunities with projects coming online soon in Iowa, Louisiana and Nevada.

轉向幻燈片 10。這是我們今天看到的第四季度的展望。從散裝開始，由於天然氣期貨仍然波動，我們預計煤炭產業將繼續面臨挑戰。隨著出口季節的到來，我們正在密切關注糧食。目前農作物正在收割，可運輸的供應量也將增加。美國大豆出口銷售開始時間早於預期。然而，我們今年改進了服務產品，以捕捉更多可用需求。最後，我們對再生生物燃料原料的預測持續保持強勁。我們看到這個市場的強勁需求，並繼續捕捉新業務。我們最近在愛荷華州、路易斯安那州和內華達州獲得了即將上線的專案機會。

Moving on to Industrial. The economic forecast for industrial production looks to stay depressed in the fourth quarter. However, we expect petroleum and construction markets to remain favorable due to our focus on business development.

轉向工業。第四季工業生產的經濟預測看起來將繼續低迷。然而，由於我們專注於業務發展，我們預計石油和建築市場將保持有利。

And finally, for premium, we are staying close with our intermodal customers in this challenging demand environment. We've seen a seasonal uptick at the beginning of the quarter, and we believe our improved service product positions us well to handle market demand. In addition, we expect automotive growth to continue, driven by strong OEM production and elevated shippable ground count. However, we are watching closely the ongoing UAW negotiations and the negative impact they are having on fourth quarter volumes as the strikes persist.

最後，在這個充滿挑戰的需求環境中，我們將與多式聯運客戶保持密切聯繫。我們在本季度初看到了季節性上升，我們相信我們改進的服務產品使我們能夠很好地滿足市場需求。此外，我們預計，在強勁的 OEM 生產和可出貨地面數量增加的推動下，汽車產業將繼續成長。然而，我們正在密切關注正在進行的 UAW 談判以及隨著罷工的持續而對第四季度銷售產生的負面影響。

In summary, we are fortunate to have a diverse portfolio that allows us to see positive momentum in some of our commodities. The team remains focused on what we can control, and I'm proud of the progress we've made in such a challenging market. We have a strong pipeline of opportunities that are -- that we're actively pursuing by leveraging our great franchise and extending our reach with transload, interline and shortline partners. We are winning new business, and I am confident that with our improved service product, we can open up more doors to new profitable growth opportunities.

總之，我們很幸運擁有多元化的投資組合，使我們能夠看到一些商品的正面動力。團隊仍然專注於我們可以控制的事情，我為我們在如此充滿挑戰的市場中取得的進展感到自豪。我們擁有大量的機會，我們正在透過利用我們強大的特許經營權並與轉運、聯運和短線合作夥伴擴大我們的影響力來積極追求這些機會。我們正在贏得新業務，我相信，透過我們改進的服務產品，我們可以打開更多新的獲利成長機會之門。

With that, I'll turn it over to Eric to review our operational performance.

這樣，我會將其交給 Eric 來審查我們的營運績效。

Thank you, Kenny, and good morning. Starting on Slide 12. As Jim mentioned, safety is the foundation of everything we do, and our goal is to lead the industry. Union Pacific can be the best because we've been there before. We have exceptional people and the entire team is focused on returning every employee home safely every day. While our progress has been encouraging, we must continue to improve technology and strive to provide best practices to the industry and the communities that we serve.

謝謝你，肯尼，早安。從投影片 12 開始。正如 Jim 所提到的，安全是我們所做一切的基礎，我們的目標是引領業界。聯合太平洋可能是最好的，因為我們以前經歷過。我們擁有優秀的人才，整個團隊每天都致力於讓每位員工安全回家。雖然我們的進步令人鼓舞，但我們必須繼續改進技術，並努力為我們所服務的行業和社區提供最佳實踐。

Safety impacts every facet of our business, our employees, customers, communities and shareholders. and we are committed to world-class safety performance. Closely aligned with our goal of industry-leading safety, we are confident in our ability to lead the industry in both service and operational excellence. In late August, the southwestern portion of our network was challenged by a series of intense weather events that caused widespread flash flooding and washouts. However, through the bold and relentless efforts of our team, we were able to quickly respond and rapidly restore operations. Despite the weather headwinds, our performance metrics improved year-over-year. We look to maintain that positive momentum as the vast majority of our metrics in the month of September represented our best performance year-to-date.

安全影響到我們業務、員工、客戶、社區和股東的各個層面。我們致力於實現世界級的安全性能。與我們行業領先的安全目標緊密結合，我們有信心在服務和卓越營運方面引領業界。八月下旬，我們的網路西南部受到一系列強烈天氣事件的挑戰，導致大範圍的山洪暴發和沖刷。但透過我們團隊的大膽和不懈努力，我們能夠快速回應並迅速恢復營運。儘管面臨天氣不利因素，我們的績效指標仍逐年改善。我們希望保持這種積極的勢頭，因為 9 月的絕大多數指標代表了我們今年迄今為止的最佳表現。

Freight car velocity improved 5% this quarter versus last year. Throughout the last several weeks, we have maintained a freight car velocity of around 210 miles per day. The impact of increased freight car velocity can be felt by our customers through the benefit of improved trip plan compliance, both intermodal and manifest and auto TPC saw a sizable 13 and 6-point year-over-year improvement, respectively. We will continue our work to deliver the service we sold to our customers.

本季貨運車速度比去年提高了 5%。在過去的幾周里，我們的貨車速度一直保持在每天 210 英里左右。透過提高行程計畫合規性，我們的客戶可以感受到貨運車速度增加的影響，聯運、艙單和汽車 TPC 分別較去年同期大幅提高 13 點和 6 點。我們將繼續努力向客戶提供我們銷售的服務。

Now let's review our key efficiency metrics for the quarter on Slide 13. The team is continuing to take actions to rightsize resources to align with current volumes and run an even more efficient network. This incorporates Jim's strategy of empowering our people closest to the work and removing layers to increase the speed of decision-making. Locomotive productivity improved 4% versus last year, as we continue to identify opportunities to utilize the fleet more efficiently. The third quarter marked both our lowest active high horsepower fleet size and the highest quarterly locomotive productivity number since the first quarter of 2022.

現在，讓我們回顧一下幻燈片 13 中本季的關鍵效率指標。該團隊正在繼續採取行動，調整資源規模，以適應當前的數量並運行更有效率的網路。這體現了吉姆的策略，即為最接近工作的人員提供權力，並消除層級以提高決策速度。隨著我們不斷尋找更有效地利用機隊的機會，機車生產力比去年提高了 4%。第三季是我們自 2022 年第一季以來最低的活躍高馬力機隊規模和最高的季度機車生產力數據。

Workforce productivity, which includes all employees, was down 6% versus last year, reflecting the impact of volume declines, coupled with increased workforce levels. Leveraging a larger workforce, we have reduced borrow outs to the lowest total of the year and slowed hiring. We remain firmly focused on effectively managing our workforce levels and recognize the importance of balancing our resources as we plan for the future. Train length improved 1% compared to third quarter 2022, despite lower volumes in our Intermodal business. By putting more product on fewer trains, we have increased train length across our system by over 500 feet or 6% since January of this year.

包括所有員工在內的勞動力生產力比去年下降了 6%，反映出數量下降和勞動力水準增加的影響。借助更多的勞動力，我們將借出總額減少到了今年的最低水平，並放慢了招聘速度。我們仍然堅定地致力於有效管理我們的勞動力水平，並認識到在規劃未來時平衡我們的資源的重要性。儘管我們的多式聯運業務量有所下降，但與 2022 年第三季相比，列車長度增加了 1%。透過在更少的列車上投放更多的產品，自今年 1 月以來，我們整個系統的列車長度增加了 500 多英尺，即 6%。

Our focus on train length is paying dividends, and we are continuing our work to further improve this measure. While our service product demonstrated noticeable improvement, there are more opportunities to improve the efficiency of our locomotive fleet, increase workforce productivity and maximize train length. We must sustain momentum across all of our operating metrics as we exit the year.

我們對列車長度的關注正在帶來回報，我們正在繼續努力進一步改進這項指標。雖然我們的服務產品取得了顯著的改進，但仍有更多機會提高機車車隊的效率、提高員工生產力並最大限度地延長列車長度。當我們結束這一年時，我們必須保持所有營運指標的動力。

So with that, I'll turn it back to Jim.

那麼，我會把它轉回給吉姆。

Thank you, Eric. Turning to Slide 15. Before we get to your questions, I'd like to quickly summarize what we've -- you've heard from our team. Jennifer walked you through the inflationary pressure we continue to face broadly throughout our cost structure, but more specifically from new labor agreements. These are real hurdles that will require price generation and productivity to overcome.

謝謝你，埃里克。轉向投影片 15。在回答您的問題之前，我想快速總結一下您從我們團隊那裡聽到的內容。珍妮佛向您介紹了我們在整個成本結構中繼續面臨的通膨壓力，但更具體地說，是來自新的勞工協議。這些都是真正的障礙，需要價格產生和生產力來克服。

Kenny outlined a challenging volume environment, one with bright spots like construction and biofuels, but ultimately is being overwhelmed by soft consumer markets. Despite this environment, the team is leveraging our business development pipeline to bring new business to the railroad.

肯尼概述了一個充滿挑戰的銷售環境，其中有建築和生物燃料等亮點，但最終被疲軟的消費市場所壓倒。儘管存在這種環境，團隊仍在利用我們的業務開發管道為鐵路帶來新業務。

And finally, from Eric, you heard that we're improving safety, service and efficiency. We exited the quarter with great momentum. September was a very strong month across all of our operating metrics and the momentum continues today, but we're still nowhere near what I believe we can deliver. There's still plenty of room to improve.

最後，您從艾瑞克那裡聽說我們正在提高安全性、服務和效率。我們以強勁的勢頭結束了本季。就我們所有的營運指標而言，9 月是一個非常強勁的月份，而且這種勢頭今天仍在繼續，但我們仍然距離我相信我們能夠實現的目標還相去甚遠。還有很大的進步空間。

I came back to win, and I could see the opportunity at Union Pacific. In a short period, we've increased the urgency across all facets of our strategy. The ultimate outcome is better service for our customers, which drives growth for the railroad. By aligning the team with a strategy of safety, service and operational excellence, we will win.

我回來贏了，我在聯合太平洋看到了機會。在短時間內，我們提高了策略各個面向的迫切性。最終結果是為我們的客戶提供更好的服務，從而推動鐵路的成長。透過使團隊與安全、服務和卓越營運策略保持一致，我們將會獲勝。

We're now ready to take your questions. Rob?

我們現在準備好回答您的問題。搶？

(Operator Instructions) Our first question will be from the line of Ken Hoexter with Bank of America.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自美國銀行的 Ken Hoexter。

Congrats on the new role, Jim. Jim, maybe just starting there on operations and Eric, is this -- what is changing here? Or what needs to change? Is it the plan? Is it, you have too much equipment? Maybe talk a little bit about what metrics you focus on as you get started or productivity. You threw out there, there were too many locomotives, maybe provide some numbers and targets and thoughts on how you get there?

恭喜你擔任新角色，吉姆。吉姆，也許剛開始運營，埃里克，這是——這裡發生了什麼變化嗎？或者說需要改變什麼？是計劃嗎？是不是你的裝備太多了？也許可以談談您在開始時關注的指標或生產力。你扔在那裡，機車太多了，也許提供一些數字和目標以及關於如何到達那裡的想法？

Ken, nice to be back and nice to hear your voice again, and I'll let Eric jump in, in a minute, but because he's the operating person. He's responsible. He is the person I'm going to keep accountable for to make sure we drive it. But what metrics do I look at? I haven't changed. A successful railroad is always fluid, make sure that you operate in a manner where you don't impact the network because of decisions you made with the kind of service that you've sold and the way you use your assets and people, and whether you have the capacity on the railroad.

肯，很高興回來，很高興再次聽到你的聲音，我一會兒會讓艾瑞克插話，但因為他是操作人員。他有責任。他是我要對其負責的人，以確保我們能夠推動這一切。但我關注哪些指標？我沒有改變。成功的鐵路總是不穩定的，請確保您的運營方式不會影響網絡，因為您對所銷售的服務類型以及使用資產和人員的方式做出的決定，以及是否您有鐵路的能力。

So when I look at Union Pacific, what do I look at a high level? I look at do we have the physical plant to be able to handle the traffic and be able to handle the ups and downs that every railroader knows happens with weather, who thought we were ever going to get a hurricane in the West Coast, okay? That's always an Eastern seaboard issue more and a Gulf issue, but not Western, but I think we did -- as a team, we did a great job of recovering. So you need a strong network, and we have the capacity there. We'll continue to invest to make sure. So that's important to me.

那麼，當我關注聯合太平洋時，我會從高層面看什麼？我看看我們是否有實體設備能夠處理交通，並且能夠處理每個鐵路工人都知道的天氣變化，誰想到我們會在西海岸遭遇颶風，好嗎？這始終是東海岸問題，更多的是海灣問題，但不是西海岸問題，但我認為我們做到了——作為一個團隊，我們在恢復方面做得很好。因此，您需要強大的網絡，而我們有能力。我們將繼續投資以確保這一點。所以這對我來說很重要。

And we have to make sure that we have a buffer of people and assets so that we're ready for the ups and downs of the business that happens because I wish it was a flat line Ken and you know it as well as I do. You've been following railroads for a long time. So let me go on because this is an important question is what do I look at? I look at -- in the morning, first thing when I get up, I'd probably get about 100 different touch points on the railroad, all in 1 spreadsheet. But what I actually look at is I look at revenue first. Where are we financially? What was our volume like? And what kind of -- where the revenue is? And if it's not good, the next call is to Kenny. Okay?

我們必須確保我們有足夠的人員和資產緩衝，以便我們為業務的起起落落做好準備，因為我希望這是一條平坦的路線，肯，你和我一樣清楚。您關注鐵路已經很長時間了。讓我繼續說下去，因為這是一個重要的問題，我該看什麼？我早上起床的第一件事就是，我可能會在鐵路上獲得大約 100 個不同的接觸點，所有這些都在一張電子表格中。但我實際上首先關注的是收入。我們的財務狀況如何？我們的體積怎麼樣？收入在哪裡？如果情況不好，下一個電話就會打給肯尼。好的？

Then the next thing I look at is car velocity. It's an end-to-end measure, tells me how well the railroad is doing. And 210 is a good number, but nowhere near what's possible. So Eric's got -- has done a great job so far, but we need to push more. Then it's -- then you continue to look at the fluidity of numbers. How well we are at crew changes, how are the intermodal terminals, how fast we're getting to pad, how fast we're allowing the truckers to go through. So there's a lot of metrics that we look at that most people probably haven't heard me talk about, but I thought I'd give you a little broader view of what I look at.

然後我看的下一件事是汽車速度。這是一項端到端的衡量標準，可以告訴我鐵路的運作狀況如何。 210 是一個不錯的數字，但遠未實現。到目前為止，埃里克已經做得很好，但我們需要推動更多。然後，然後你繼續觀察數字的流動性。我們在船員換班方面做得如何，聯運終點站如何，我們的裝卸速度有多快，我們允許卡車司機通過的速度有多快。因此，我們研究了許多指標，大多數人可能沒有聽過我談論過，但我想我可以讓您對我所研究的內容有更廣泛的了解。

And then after you do that, there's the asset issue. How many cars per carload, the locomotives. So we've got over 500 locomotives parked. And those 500 are ready-to-go locomotives. So we could turn them on in a short period of time. We've got some place in strategic locations if we need them on the network to keep the service level that we sold. On top of that, we have more locomotives that are stored for longer term. So we're in good shape on assets. We spool up this railroad to operate at the level that is possible with the type of business that we have. And I think it's a win-win for us Ken, and that's what I look at every morning. Eric, do you want add anything?

這樣做之後，就會出現資產問題。每輛車有多少輛汽車，即機車。所以我們停放 500 多輛機車。這 500 輛是隨時可用的機車。所以我們可以在短時間內打開它們。如果我們需要網路上的服務來維持我們銷售的服務水平，我們會在策略位置擁有一些位置。最重要的是，我們有更多的機車可以長期儲存。所以我們的資產狀況良好。我們將這條鐵路安排在我們所擁有的業務類型可能達到的水平上運營。我認為這對我們來說是雙贏，肯，這就是我每天早上都會​​看到的。艾瑞克，你想補充什麼嗎？

When we think about recap in the quarter, Ken, you start thinking about we did make great progress in the quarter from a fluidity perspective, to Jim's point. And when you think about what did we do with that? We were able to store approximately 300 locomotives during the quarter. We're able to reduce our recrew rate. We took down our borrow outs to the lowest level we've had all year. Now we continue to face the headwind from a workforce productivity of some of our agreements. So clearly, the challenge that we've given ourselves and we continue to challenge ourselves with is how do you work to overcome that productivity headwind.

當我們考慮本季的回顧時，肯，你開始思考我們在本季從流動性的角度確實取得了巨大的進步，正如吉姆所說。當你想到我們用它做了什麼？本季我們能夠存放約 300 輛機車。我們能夠降低重組率。我們將借出金額降至全年最低。現在，我們繼續面臨一些協議帶來的勞動力生產力下降的不利影響。很明顯，我們給自己帶來的挑戰以及我們繼續挑戰自己的挑戰是如何克服生產力方面的阻力。

So when you think about things like some of the agreements that we've signed that actually allow us to remove certain people off of certain jobs across the system. We work to continue to reduce the fleet even more as we grow train length. I'm super proud of the team for the train length they've grown since January. There's still more opportunity there. When I think about remote control locomotives have been able to reduce some of our -- gain productivity and some of that, that's an opportunity for us. And the list goes on and on, we probably could talk about it for an hour. So I'm very excited about it. I think this is just the beginning.

因此，當您考慮諸如我們簽署的一些協議之類的事情時，這些協議實際上允許我們將某些人從整個系統的某些工作中刪除。隨著列車長度的增加，我們將努力繼續減少車隊數量。我為團隊感到非常自豪，因為他們自一月以來已經增加了列車長度。那裡還有更多機會。當我想到遙控機車已經能夠減少我們的某些東西——提高生產力和其中一些時，這對我們來說是一個機會。這個清單還很長，我們可能可以討論一個小時。所以我對此感到非常興奮。我認為這只是一個開始。

Next question is from the line of Fadi Chamoun with BMO Capital Markets.

下一個問題來自 BMO 資本市場的 Fadi Chamoun。

Welcome back, Jim. I mean, a quick question. I think we've heard this in the past many times and maybe from you Jim, it's -- first, you have to fix kind of the engine and ultimately energize the commercial momentum. And I think the success story around the industry really are in that vein where a collaboration between operation and commercial have been a big catalyst for that. So my question is in terms of fixing the engine and you talked about car velocity, where do you think kind of you are for the network that you have in that process? And what is ultimately the right kind of goal from a car-velocity perspective, from an asset-velocity perspective for UP, where are you in that process?

歡迎回來，吉姆。我的意思是，一個簡單的問題。我想我們過去已經聽過很多次了，也許是從你那裡聽到的，吉姆，首先，你必須修復引擎並最終激發商業動力。我認為整個產業的成功故事確實是這樣的，營運和商業之間的合作是一個重要的催化劑。所以我的問題是關於修復引擎，你談到了汽車速度，你認為你在這個過程中擁有的網路處於什​​麼位置？從汽車速度的角度來看，從 UP 資產速度的角度來看，最終正確的目標是什麼？您在這個過程中處於什麼位置？

And as we go into 2024, can you kind of make progress? Can you improve operating ratio even if volume are flat or the economy is muted and there is no momentum on that front?

當我們進入 2024 年時，您能取得進展嗎？即使銷量持平或經濟低迷並且這方面沒有動力，您能否提高營運率？

So Fadi, I like the question because it frames exactly what -- when I came back to work the challenges that I could see. The first challenge we had was inflation, both input costs plus labor costs and some of the collective agreements we signed. Every CEO that comes in always wants to blame people beforehand. That's not the way I look at it. That's the challenge. I knew what I would get myself into. So we do -- how do we fix that piece is as we drive and look for efficiency, and there's efficiency there. Usually, I don't give a -- and you know that Fadi, I don't forecast numbers. But I'll tell you, I'll be disappointed if that car velocity doesn't return to where it was before that we had in 2020. There's no reason for us to not be low 220s. So that's about as far as I'm going to get on that number.

Fadi，我喜歡這個問題，因為它準確地描述了當我回來工作時我能看到的挑戰。我們面臨的第一個挑戰是通貨膨脹，包括投入成本加上勞動成本以及我們簽署的一些集體協議。每一位上任的執行長總是想事先責備別人。我不這麼看。這就是挑戰。我知道我會讓自己陷入什麼境地。所以我們就是這樣做的——當我們推動並尋求效率時，我們如何解決這個問題，而效率就在那裡。通常，我不會給出——你知道法迪，我不會預測數字。但我會告訴你，如果汽車速度沒有恢復到 2020 年之前的水平，我會感到失望。我們沒有理由不低於 220 秒。我所能得到的大概就是這個數字了。

If I look at the other piece that we have to do, and Kenny is all over it and his team is, is we know that we can't through efficiency and productivity recover everything in the long term. But what we can do is we can price properly for what the service that we're providing to our customers, and Kenny's all over that. And that's going to take a little bit of time, and I'll let Kenny later on talk about this.

如果我看看我們必須做的另一件事，肯尼和他的團隊都在努力，我們知道，從長遠來看，我們無法透過效率和生產力來恢復一切。但我們能做的是，我們可以為我們向客戶提供的服務進行適當的定價，而肯尼就是這麼做的。這需要一點時間，稍後我會讓肯尼談論這個。

But -- so the way I look at it is those 2 things, if we do them right, and let's leverage this railroad that we have, okay? We're a 70-mile an hour railroad. There's only 1 other railroad in North America that runs their freight trains at 70 miles an hour, okay? So let's leverage that. And you could see that when we changed the service out of Mexico because we want to leverage Mexico to grow our business in and out.

但是 - 所以我看待它的方式是這兩件事，如果我們做對了，讓我們利用我們擁有的這條鐵路，好嗎？我們是一條時速 70 英里的鐵路。北美只有另外 1 家鐵路以每小時 70 英里的速度運行貨運列車，好嗎？所以讓我們利用這一點。您可以看到，當我們將服務移出墨西哥時，因為我們希望利用墨西哥來發展我們的業務。

And by doing that and providing customers a service that from the border, nobody can beat us to Chicago. We have the fastest service of anybody, especially with the new train service that we have on. So we should leverage that. Now not everybody wants speed, so we have to make sure that we're consistent. We also have to leverage our network. I love the places we serve and where we can take our customers to. I love the way our origination customers are and the number we have and the variety, crossing all market segments.

透過這樣做並為客戶提供從邊境出發的服務，沒有人能比我們先到芝加哥。我們擁有最快的服務，尤其是我們提供的新火車服務。所以我們應該利用這一點。現在並不是每個人都想要速度，所以我們必須確保我們的一致性。我們還必須利用我們的人脈。我喜歡我們服務的地方以及我們可以帶客戶去的地方。我喜歡我們的原始客戶的方式以及我們擁有的數量和品種，跨越所有細分市場。

And if we do that, Fadi, we become the most efficient railroad. Operationally, we -- I've always said this, and I will continue to say it. We will have the best margin railroad in North America, best operating ratio, best margin, whichever way you want to look at it, I'm comfortable with that. And we give a chance for the customers that are with us to win and we look to move customers that are using other modes, including trucks, that look at the railroad as their way that they want to win.

如果我們這樣做，法迪，我們就會成為最有效率的鐵路。在操作上，我們——我一直這麼說，而且我將繼續這麼說。我們將擁有北美利潤率最高的鐵路、最好的營運率、最好的利潤率，無論你想從哪個角度來看，我對此都很滿意。我們為與我們合作的客戶提供了一個獲勝的機會，我們希望吸引使用其他模式（包括卡車）的客戶，他們將鐵路視為他們想要獲勝的方式。

So I'm happy. I didn't come back to work to lose. I came back to win. I was more than comfortable. Most people in my age are thinking about doing other things. In fact, I had a trip to K2 planned. And when the opportunity came up and we agreed with the Board on what the strategy was and what we wanted to do moving forward, I said, "Listen, I'm all in. Let's go." So I've been working hard with the team and I'm pushing them hard. At the end of the day, we need to make decisions quicker. We need to react quicker. We need to quit having so many layers that slow down the decision-making, and with that, we end up winning, Fadi. Hopefully, I answered your question. I know it was a long answer. And maybe there won't be any other questions after this.

所以我很高興。我回來工作不是為了失敗。我回來是為了贏。我感到非常舒服。我這個年紀的大多數人都在考慮做其他事情。事實上，我已經計劃去喬戈里峰旅行了。當機會出現並且我們與董事會就戰略是什麼以及我們想要繼續做什麼達成一致時，我說：“聽著，我全力以赴。我們走吧。”因此，我一直在與團隊一起努力工作，並努力推動他們。歸根結底，我們需要更快地做出決定。我們需要更快地做出反應。我們需要放棄這麼多會減慢決策的層級，這樣，我們最終就會獲勝，Fadi。希望我回答了你的問題。我知道這是一個很長的答案。也許此後就不會再有任何其他問題了。

Our next question is from the line of Jason Seidl with TD Cowen.

我們的下一個問題來自 Jason Seidl 和 TD Cowen。

Jim, welcome back, Jennifer, Kenny and Eric. Wanted to focus a little bit on sort of the inflation and pricing dynamic that we have going on here currently. Is this just a case for waiting until we can get to repricing some more of the contracts as we move through and seeing sort of better fluidity in the railroad? And are we just sort of in for a few tough quarters here in terms of comps?

吉姆，歡迎回來，珍妮佛、肯尼和艾瑞克。我想稍微關心一下我們目前正在發生的通貨膨脹和定價動態。這是否只是等待，直到我們能夠在我們經歷並看到鐵路流動性有所改善時重新定價更多合約？就比較而言，我們是否正經歷幾個艱難的季度？

Kenny, go ahead.

肯尼，繼續吧。

Yes. Thanks for that question. No, we're not waiting. We're repricing these contracts right now in real time. We're having some very clear and direct conversations with customers. The commercial team is doing an excellent job of really articulating what took place from a labor standpoint and these costs, and specifically how what we're doing and what Eric is doing on the -- on his side, how it will benefit our customers.

是的。謝謝你提出這個問題。不，我們不等。我們現在正在即時重新定價這些合約。我們正在與客戶進行一些非常清晰和直接的對話。商業團隊做得非常出色，從勞工的角度真正闡明了發生的事情和這些成本，特別是我們正在做什麼以及埃里克正在做什麼——就他而言，這將如何使我們的客戶受益。

Now I'll tell you that our customers are seeing some of the same pressures and it's playing out in their markets that way too. The other thing, and Jennifer talked about this a little bit, we're investing a lot of money here. We're investing $3.7 billion. We don't lose an opportunity to share that with customers and talk about the value that they get from those investments. And so you look at that, you look at the improved service product that Eric is delivering us. We have no problem looking at our customers in the eye, talking to them about pricing the value that's there.

現在我要告訴你的是，我們的客戶也面臨著一些相同的壓力，而且他們的市場也同樣面臨著同樣的壓力。另一件事，珍妮佛談到了一點，我們在這裡投資了很多錢。我們將投資 37 億美元。我們不會錯過與客戶分享這一點並談論他們從這些投資中獲得的價值的機會。所以你看看，你看看埃里克為我們提供的改進的服務產品。我們可以毫不猶豫地看著客戶的眼睛，與他們討論定價的價值。

And Kenny just to remind Jason and others. So, we can't access all of our contracts immediately from a price standpoint. So we do have, call it, half of our book of business is in multiyear contracts. So to your question, Jason, it does take us a bit to work through and reprice those contracts. But Kenny and team are very focused at every opportunity they get, they're having that conversation and they're winning in the marketplace with higher prices.

而肯尼只是為了提醒傑森等人。因此，從價格的角度來看，我們無法立即訪問所有合約。因此，我們確實有一半的業務是多年期合約。所以，對於你的問題，傑森，我們確實需要一些時間來完成這些合約並重新定價。但肯尼和團隊非常專注於他們獲得的每一個機會，他們正在進行對話，並以更高的價格在市場上獲勝。

And Jennifer, could you remind us how they renew through the course of '24? What percent?

詹妮弗，你能提醒我們他們是如何在 24 年期間更新的嗎？百分之幾？

So we've not talked about 2024, but in general, call it, half of our book is multiyear contracts, 25% is tariff and the other 25% or so are contracts that are a year or less in duration.

所以我們沒有談論 2024 年，但總的來說，我們的書裡有一半是多年期合同，25% 是關稅，另外 25% 左右是期限一年或更短的合同。

Our next question is from Amit Mehrotra with Deutsche Bank.

我們的下一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Amit Mehrotra。

Jennifer, can you talk about, I guess, OR expectations as we look from 3Q to 4Q, obviously, the fuel headwind I think that gets even better sequentially. You talked about year-over-year, but I think it actually gets a little bit better sequentially. You're moving 8,000 more carloads per week. It's only 2 weeks into the quarter, so I don't want to get ahead of myself, but we're seeing some decent sequential volume growth. So could you talk about that?

珍妮佛，我想，你能談談我們從第三季到第四季的預期嗎？顯然，我認為燃料逆風會依次變得更好。你談到了同比，但我認為實際上逐年變得更好了。您每週要多運送 8,000 車貨物。該季度才剛剛過去兩週，所以我不想超前，但我們看到了一些不錯的連續銷售成長。那你能談談這個嗎？

And then, Jim, just -- related to Jim and Eric, actually, you talked about getting car velocity up to 220 miles per day. You've already had great improvement on that in recent months, and that has corresponded nicely to kind of this improvement in volume. Should we think that, that increase to 220 allows you to essentially move more volume that's waiting to be moved, and we can see kind of a corresponding increase in kind of the 7-day carloadings? And how do you get comfortable or how do you get us comfortable that the added volume doesn't drive service challenges, which historically has been the case for all railroads. So if you can just talk about that as well.

然後，吉姆，實際上，與吉姆和埃里克有關，您談到將汽車速度提高到每天 220 英里。近幾個月來，您在這方面已經有了很大的進步，這與數量上的這種改進非常吻合。我們是否應該認為，增加到 220 可以讓您基本上移動更多等待移動的數量，並且我們可以看到 7 天裝車量相應增加？您如何感到放心，或如何讓我們放心，增加的數量不會帶來服務挑戰，而歷史上所有鐵路都是如此。所以如果你也能談談這一點。

I'll maybe start off a bit and address your question, at least the question about sequential OR improvement. As I've said in my prepared remarks, we're looking to build off the momentum that we have here as we ended out the third quarter and take that into the fourth quarter. And so without making any guide relative to what fourth quarter volumes are going to do, to your point, we're off to a good start, very pleased by that. But we're going to operate as efficiently as we can.

我可能會先解決你的問題，至少是關於順序或改進的問題。正如我在準備好的演講中所說的那樣，我們希望在第三季結束時繼續保持這種勢頭，並將其帶入第四季度。因此，在沒有對第四季度銷售做出任何指導的情況下，就您的觀點而言，我們有了一個良好的開端，對此感到非常高興。但我們將盡可能有效率地運作。

And we do think we have an opportunity to have sequential gains going from third quarter to fourth quarter on the OR basis. It's going to take hard work by the team. It's going to take continued gains in terms of how we're operating the railroad and driving efficiency, but that's absolutely the goal that we're looking at. Jim, do you want to maybe hit the rest of this question about freight car velocity?

我們確實認為我們有機會在 OR 的基礎上從第三季到第四季實現連續成長。這需要團隊的努力。我們將在鐵路運營方式和提高效率方面不斷取得進步，但這絕對是我們正在尋求的目標。吉姆，您是否想回答有關貨車速度的問題的其餘部分？

So what -- the reason I used freight car velocity is it truly is that end-to-end number that gives you a great indication. And it's not the only indicator, but it gives you an indicator. So I like the question. You said, can you handle an increase in business and are you leaving business behind? I wish we were leaving business behind. I really do, and we are not. And we will look for everything we can to get more business.

那又怎樣——我使用貨車速度的原因是它確實是一個端到端的數字，可以給你一個很好的指示。它不是唯一的指標，但它為您提供了一個指標。所以我喜歡這個問題。你說，你能應付業務的成長嗎？你會放棄業務嗎？我希望我們把生意拋在腦後。我真的願意，但我們不是。我們將盡我們所能獲得更多業務。

The railroad, and railroads get themselves in trouble when they lose sight of what the fundamentals are for an increase in business. Increase in business can come in a lot of different ways. One is it can be bulk, which adds people, adds locomotives, adds -- puts more pressure on the capacity. And we built this railroad that has the capacity, which you always have to concentrate on and usually is the limiting factor when you increase, especially on the carload business is how well your terminals and what the capacity is on the terminals.

當鐵路公司忽視了業務成長的基本原則時，他們就會陷入困境。業務成長可以透過多種不同的方式實現。一是它可能體積龐大，這會增加人員，增加機車，增加——對容量造成更大的壓力。我們建造的這條鐵路具有容量，這是您始終必須關注的，並且通常是您增加時的限制因素，特別是在整車業務方面，您的碼頭有多好以及碼頭上的容量是多少。

And when I was here last time, we worked on -- in the Houston area and invested a lot of money to make sure that, that terminal had the capacity to grow with the products that we handle in the industrial landscape. And it's important for us, and we are going through a process to make sure that every car has the least amount of touch points, fluidity is king. And that we can handle the most cars per employee within all those terminals, and we have the gap that allows us to be able to react when the business comes up.

當我上次來這裡時，我們在休士頓地區進行了工作，並投入了大量資金，以確保碼頭有能力隨著我們在工業領域處理的產品而成長。這對我們來說很重要，我們正在經歷一個過程，以確保每輛車都有最少的接觸點，流動性才是王道。我們可以在所有這些航站樓內為每位員工處理最多的汽車，而我們的差距使我們能夠在業務出現時做出反應。

If you add an extra intermodal train, or you add an extra 1,000 feet on 1 of our locomotive trains. That's an easier fix again, as long as the terminals, whether it's G4 in Chicago or it's the Dallas terminals have the capability to handle it in an expeditious manner, the same way. I think we have it. With all the business that Kenny's promised me, okay? Is as we have the capacity, but we will invest and make sure we try to stay ahead of the curve on the fluidity, on our terminals. And if we drive the terminals properly because that's usually your limiting factor, more so than what the physical plant is out in the railroad, and we keep that buffer of people so that we have the people to react. I'm not real worried about if we go up another 10,000 carloads. In fact, what a challenge to have. So Kenny, your job to bring it on.

如果您添加額外的聯運列車，或在我們的一列機車列車上添加額外的 1,000 英尺。這又是一個更容易解決的問題，只要航站樓，無論是芝加哥的 G4 還是達拉斯的航站樓，都有能力以同樣的方式快速處理。我想我們有。肯尼答應我的所有生意，好嗎？我們有能力，但我們會投資並確保我們在終端的流動性方面保持領先地位。如果我們正確地驅動終端，因為這通常是你的限制因素，比鐵路上的物理工廠更重要，我們會保留人員緩衝，以便我們讓人們做出反應。我並不真正擔心我們是否會再增加 10,000 車貨物。事實上，這真是個挑戰。所以肯尼，你的工作就是把它帶上。

Absolutely.

絕對地。

So thank you very much for the question.

非常感謝你提出這個問題。

Our next question is from the line of Jordan Alliger with Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題來自高盛的喬丹·阿利格 (Jordan Alliger)。

I think intermodal is often viewed as critical or key long-term growth engine for the industry. Are you now in a position do you think, to start taking more share from trucks with trip plan compliance moving higher. And if not, what still needs to happen to get intermodal to grow, obviously, other than the macro, is it more service from you? Do truck rates have to move up? Can you give some thoughts around that?

我認為多式聯運通常被視為該行業關鍵或關鍵的長期成長引擎。您認為您現在是否可以開始從卡車那裡獲得更多份額，並且出行計劃合規性更高。如果不是，那麼為了使多式聯運發展，還需要做什麼，顯然，除了宏觀之外，您是否提供了更多服務？卡車費率必須提高嗎？您能對此提出一些想法嗎？

Kenny, if I can just start real quick, and then I'll pass it over to you. The price is important. You have to have the right price that allows you, but service has to be consistent. And a few weeks is not good enough for any customer to say, "How's the railroad doing?" If I was a customer, I'd be looking at, are you consistent in your service? And when you get impacted -- because our car velocity will drop with some weather events through the winter. This is not a game where you can forecast it to be at a 220 level all the time. We're going to have some impact. Sometimes it will be higher, sometimes lower. It's how fast we recover.

肯尼，如果我能盡快開始的話，我會把它交給你。價格很重要。您必須擁有適合您的價格，但服務必須始終如一。幾週的時間還不足以讓任何客戶問“鐵路狀況如何？”如果我是顧客，我會關注，你的服務是否始終如一？當你受到影響時——因為我們的汽車速度會隨著冬季的一些天氣事件而下降。這不是一款可以一直預測到220級的遊戲。我們將會產生一些影響。有時會更高，有時會更低。這就是我們恢復的速度。

If we can do that, and we can show shippers that we have the capability to deliver their products in a consistent manner, recover fast, then I think we have the opportunity. But it takes time. No one's going to believe you the first time you show up and say, "Wow, we did have a great September." Well, how about January? How was that? And how was 2022? I think they have memories of that. Kenny?

如果我們能做到這一點，並且我們可以向托運人表明我們有能力以一致的方式交付他們的產品并快速恢復，那麼我認為我們有機會。但這需要時間。當你第一次出現時，沒有人會相信你說：“哇，我們確實度過了一個美好的九月。”嗯，一月怎麼樣？怎麼樣？ 2022 年過得怎麼樣？我想他們對此有記憶。肯尼？

Just to build on what Jim mentioned, let me just level set. First, we've got a really strong stable of customers' private assets, customers that are on our network along with our own railroad assets with EMP, UMAX and so. What that does is that provides optionality for the BCO. So that's the first thing that we are appreciative of. Next, as you look at all the product development that we're investing. Investing in a little bit more expansion in Kansas City, the new product development with Twin Cities, Inland Empire. You look at the discussion around -- Eric really improved product around -- coming into and out of Mexico. That's been great for us.

為了以吉姆提到的為基礎，讓我先設定一下水平。首先，我們擁有非常穩定的客戶私人資產、我們網路上的客戶以及我們自己的鐵路資產（包括 EMP、UMAX 等）。這樣做的目的是為 BCO 提供可選性。所以這是我們首先欣賞的事情。接下來，當您查看我們正在投資的所有產品開發時。在堪薩斯城進行更多投資，與內陸帝國雙城進行新產品開發。你看看周圍的討論——埃里克確實改進了產品——進出墨西哥。這對我們來說非常棒。

But setting aside this macro thing as our service improves, really, the North Star is going over the road. You've heard us say by our estimation that we've got a pretty low market share in terms of overall rail coming into and out of Mexico, and that's ripe for more penetration in work and certainly more products out there. We announced that we've got a product to the Southeast that we're taking advantage of. And so very bullish, we're on offense, and we're clear-eyed about growing there.

但是，隨著我們服務的改善，拋開這個宏觀因素，實際上，北極星正在過馬路。您已經聽我們說過，根據我們的估計，就進出墨西哥的整體鐵路而言，我們的市場份額相當低，而在工作中進一步滲透，當然還有更多產品的時機已經成熟。我們宣布我們已經向東南部推出了我們正在利用的產品。所以非常樂觀，我們正在進攻，我們對在那裡成長有清醒的認識。

Our next question comes from the line of Brian Ossenbeck with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的布萊恩·奧森貝克 (Brian Ossenbeck)。

Welcome back, Jim. Just wanted to ask more about visibility to the cost inflation on labor side, specifically into '24. Obviously, it's been a challenge, but it's going to get -- it will be a little bit more challenging next year, I think as the 4.5% increased bonus and maybe some work-rest rules around SMART-TD. So maybe Jennifer, you can give us some sense as to how much visibility you have for the cost inflation side, when it comes to labor?

歡迎回來，吉姆。只是想更多地了解勞動力方面成本通膨的可見性，特別是 24 年。顯然，這是一個挑戰，但明年會更具挑戰性，我認為隨著獎金增加 4.5%，也許還有一些圍繞 SMART-TD 的工作休息規則。所以也許詹妮弗，你可以讓我們了解一下，在勞動力方面，你對成本通膨方面有多少了解？

And then Jim, would just love to get your thoughts on perhaps just the broader regulatory picture. Obviously, UP had some challenges with the regulator on embargoes. Last year, there was a FRA letter about some of the inspections. So UP has been under the microscope a little bit. Just wanted to see how you perceive that as you're new into the seat.

然後吉姆很想聽聽您對更廣泛的監管情況的看法。顯然，UP 在禁運方面向監管機構提出了一些挑戰。去年，FRA 曾發出一封關於部分檢查的信函。所以 UP 已經被放在顯微鏡下觀察了。只是想看看當你剛坐上這個座位時你對此有何看法。

When talking about inflation, I mean we're still in the process of putting together our 2024 plan, but you hit some of the key ones there, Brian, in terms of July 1 is the last of the scheduled wage increases for the craft professionals from the PEB and that's 4.5%. Obviously, there will be wage increases on the nonagreement side as well. So there will be labor inflation pressures. You mentioned the work-rest. So those are all -- while they are pressures, they also are opportunities, right, for us to look at how we can be more productive in how we do every part of our business. And so that's one of the things we always challenge the team with is how can we chip away at inflation. It's not just Kenny's job from a price standpoint. It's all of our jobs as we look to drive productivity and work more efficiently.

當談到通貨膨脹時，我的意思是我們仍在製定 2024 年計劃，但布萊恩，你提到了一些關鍵的計劃，7 月 1 日是工藝專業人員的最後一次工資上漲計劃來自PEB，即4.5 %。顯然，非協議方的薪資也會上漲。所以會存在勞動力通膨壓力。你提到了工作休息。所以這些都是——雖然它們是壓力，但它們也是機會，對吧，讓我們看看如何在我們業務的每個部分中提高工作效率。因此，我們一直向團隊提出的挑戰之一就是如何削弱通貨膨脹。從價格的角度來看，這不僅僅是肯尼的工作。這是我們所有的工作，因為我們希望提高生產力並提高工作效率。

Purchased services and materials, that's an area that also has seen some pretty heavy inflation over the last couple of years. The labor piece of that probably will continue. As the labor market stays tight, probably we'll continue to see more pressure as well. Beyond that, if I think about fuel, obviously, driven by energy markets, we have opportunities there to be more efficient on the equipment rent side. That's where car velocity certainly can play a role for us as speed up the network, turn the assets more efficiently.

購買服務和材料，這個領域在過去幾年也出現了相當嚴重的通貨膨脹。其中的勞動部分可能會持續下去。由於勞動市場持續緊張，我們可能還會繼續面臨更大的壓力。除此之外，如果我考慮燃料，顯然，在能源市場的推動下，我們有機會在設備租賃方面提高效率。這就是汽車速度肯定可以為我們發揮作用的地方，因為它可以加快網路速度，更有效地利用資產。

And then the last one I'll mention is the other expense line, which, as you know, has been pressured the last year or so on the casualty side, and that's -- higher verdicts, higher awards. And that's probably something that's going to be around for a bit. That's why -- that's the corollary benefit to us running a safer railroad is taking those incidents off the table. We want everybody to go home safe. We want our customers' freight to arrive undamaged but then it flows through from a cost standpoint as well. So those are kind of the big buckets that I'll outline for you. And obviously, we'll talk in more specifics when we put the plan together and talk to you in January.

我要提到的最後一個是其他費用項目，如您所知，去年左右在傷亡方面一直受到壓力，那就是 - 更高的判決，更高的獎勵。這可能會持續一段時間。這就是為什麼——這就是我們營運一條更安全的鐵路的必然好處，就是讓這些事件不再發生。我們希望每個人都能安全回家。我們希望客戶的貨物完好無損地到達，但從成本的角度來看，貨物也會流過。這些就是我將為您概述的一些大目標。顯然，當我們在一月份制定計劃並與您交談時，我們會詳細討論。

You bet. So Brian, listen, good article on the cars per employee. I think it was a great comparison, and it shows where the opportunity is. So well done on that. I enjoyed reading that last night, one of the last things I did before I went to bed. You asked about the regulatory agencies and how the relationship is. I think it's best to describe it like this. With the FRA, we're aligned. We have the exact same goal. And I like that the FRA wants to come out and look at the railroad, see if our safety management system is proper, we're getting -- we're using the railroad in the proper manner and that we're safe. So I love that. I have no issue with it.

你打賭。布萊恩，聽著，這是一篇關於員工人均汽車數量的好文章。我認為這是一個很好的比較，它顯示了機會在哪裡。在這方面做得很好。昨晚我很喜歡讀這本書，這是我睡前做的最後一件事。您詢問了監管機構以及它們之間的關係如何。我認為最好這樣描述它。我們與法蘭克福機場保持一致。我們有完全相同的目標。我喜歡法蘭克福機場想要出來檢查鐵路，看看我們的安全管理系統是否正確，我們正在以正確的方式使用鐵路，我們是安全的。所以我喜歡這樣。我對此沒有任何問題。

And I have a good relationship. I've reached out good relationship with the FRA, but it's not my relationship that's the most important, it's how we deal with things out in the field. We're professional. We look for ways to improve, and we work with the FRA because they get to look at other railroads. And when they give us some feedback, we need to take it to see how we improve. So I think that's the way to a relationship.

和我關係很好。我已經與法蘭克福機場建立了良好的關係，但最重要的不是我的關係，而是我們處理現場問題的方式。我們很專業。我們尋找改進的方法，並與法蘭克福鐵路公司合作，因為他們可以考慮其他鐵路。當他們給我們一些回饋時，我們需要接受它來看看我們如何改進。所以我認為這就是建立關係的方式。

And on the STB, there's lots going on, and I won't discuss the specifics, but I grew up in Canada working on a railroad that had interswitching for a distance, and I know what the pluses and minuses are there. I don't see anything as we're moving forward, and we'll give our feedback because I think we want to make sure that we don't impact our customers and what we serve and slow down the railroads because of a regulatory framework. So we have to be careful because our customers compete with people with other -- of course, within the U.S., other modes, but they also compete in the world. There's products that we move for customers that go around the world that if we wreck the efficiency of the railroads, it's a mistake.

在 STB 上，發生了很多事情，我不會討論具體細節，但我在加拿大長大，在一條有遠距離互轉的鐵路上工作，我知道其中的優點和缺點。隨著我們的前進，我沒有看到任何東西，我們會提供回饋，因為我認為我們希望確保我們不會影響我們的客戶和我們的服務，並因為監管框架而減慢鐵路速度。所以我們必須小心，因為我們的客戶與其他人競爭——當然，在美國，其他模式，但他們也在世界各地競爭。我們為世界各地的客戶運送一些產品，如果我們破壞了鐵路的效率，那就是一個錯誤。

And I know the STB does not want that. What they want is they want to make sure that we have good service. And that's the best way for us to make sure that the regulatory environment doesn't affect us is we provide good service. If we provide the service that we sold to our customers, then we win. So I'm very comfortable with the relationship. I think we need to continue to communicate, and we both. We have the same end goal with the STB and the FRA. So Brian, I think it's -- the relationship is good. We'll take the feedback, and we'll see where we can improve.

我知道 STB 不希望這樣。他們想要的是確保我們提供良好的服務。確保監管環境不會影響我們的最佳方式是我們提供良好的服務。如果我們提供我們出售給客戶的服務，那麼我們就贏了。所以我對這段關係感到非常滿意。我認為我們雙方都需要繼續溝通。我們與 STB 和 FRA 有著相同的最終目標。所以布萊恩，我認為我們的關係很好。我們將聽取回饋，並找出可以改進的地方。

Our next question is from the line of Scott Group with Wolfe Research.

我們的下一個問題來自斯科特集團和沃爾夫研究公司。

And welcome back, Jim. So it sounds like we want to get more price, more productivity, but we still have inflation. You said you want to get to best-in-class margin. I guess we got to get improvement first. So when do you think you can start improving margins again?

歡迎回來，吉姆。因此，聽起來我們想要獲得更高的價格、更高的生產力，但我們仍然面臨通貨膨脹。您說過您希望獲得一流的利潤率。我想我們必須先取得進步。那麼您認為什麼時候可以再次開始提高利潤率？

And then separately, Jennifer, the buyback has just been a big part of the earnings growth for a long time. Is this a temporary pause? More of a prolonged change? And how you're thinking about the buyback? Any thoughts there?

另外，詹妮弗，回購長期以來一直是獲利成長的重要組成部分。這是暫時的停頓嗎？更長時間的變化？您如何考慮回購？有什麼想法嗎？

Why don't you answer the first piece of Scott's question.

為什麼不回答斯科特問題的第一部分呢？

Sure. No. This is not a change in our philosophy around capital allocation, Scott, as we talked back in July. This is just looking at cash flows, looking at the balance sheet and taking a temporary pause. You heard me mention that our debt-to-EBITDA levels are around 3x here at the end of the quarter, a little bit elevated from where they have been historically. And so our job is to hit on the things you mentioned earlier with the price, productivity, grow the business and generate more EBITDA, generate more cash flow and resume our share repurchase program.

當然。不。斯科特，正如我們在 7 月談到的那樣，這並不是我們關於資本配置理念的改變。這只是看看現金流，看看資產負債表，然後暫時暫停一下。你聽到我提到，到本季末，我們的債務與 EBITDA 水準約為 3 倍，比歷史水準略高。因此，我們的工作是解決您之前提到的價格、生產力、發展業務並產生更多 EBITDA、產生更多現金流並恢復我們的股票回購計劃。

And Scott, on the second piece is, the last time I showed up in January 14 of 2019 versus August 14 of this year is the railroad is more efficient. It did not back up to the place where it was before. It was very easy pickings to go park 1000 locomotives. So we don't have that. But what we do have is we still have productivity. I see productivity across everything that we do from how management works, how many people we need to operate the railroad to how well we use our assets. So it won't be quite as large. It won't be the $1.3 billion that we did last time, but there is productivity gain that we can do. So with that, it's going to take a little bit longer.

史考特，第二件事是，我上次出現是在 2019 年 1 月 14 日，與今年 8 月 14 日相比，鐵路效率更高。並沒有回到原來的位置。停放1000輛機車是很容易的事。所以我們沒有那個。但我們所擁有的是我們仍然有生產力。我看到了我們所做的一切事情的生產力，從管理方式、經營鐵路需要多少人到我們如何充分利用我們的資產。所以它不會那麼大。這不會是我們上次所做的 13 億美元，但我們可以提高生產力。因此，這將需要更長的時間。

Some of these changes that I see will not be as quick. I won't be able to go to North Platte and park 90 locomotives because we had them parked outside the diesel shop first day. But there is ways for us to speed it up and there's still locomotives that we can park and make sure that they're used efficiently. So it will take us a little bit longer. And stay tuned with us and you'll see hopefully incremental changes to our numbers that will tell you that we're headed the right way. And there'll be ups and downs. There is no advantage of buts that some things we can't control. I really don't know what's going to happen to the economy next year. Are we going to have a recession? Are we not going to have a recession? I'm hoping we -- the country does not have a recession and that would help us. So hopefully, I answered your question, Scott.

我認為其中一些變化不會那麼快。我無法前往北普拉特並停放 90 輛機車，因為我們第一天就把它們停在柴油店外面。但我們有辦法加快速度，而且我們仍然可以停放機車並確保它們得到有效利用。所以我們需要更長的時間。請繼續關注我們，您將看到我們的數字不斷發生的變化，這將告訴您我們正朝著正確的方向前進。而且會有起伏。但有些事情是我們無法控制的，這並沒有什麼好處。我真的不知道明年的經濟會發生什麼事。我們會陷入衰退嗎？我們不會陷入衰退嗎？我希望我們的國家不會出現經濟衰退，這對我們有幫助。希望我回答了你的問題，史考特。

Our next question is from the line of Walter Spracklin with RBC.

我們的下一個問題來自 RBC 的 Walter Spracklin。

Welcome back, Jim. I know when you first came back and you just mentioned locomotive storage, employee productivity improvement, we're really a key focus for you, very successful on that. They had some pretty-quick turnarounds. Just wondering now, you're in the seat, you probably have multiyear views here and whether you can grab some longer-term kind of structural efficiency objectives. And I'm referring here to things like hump yards and things that take a little longer time to address that perhaps you didn't look at immediately when you first were in the role that you may be looking at here now.

歡迎回來，吉姆。我知道當您第一次回來時，您剛剛提到了機車存儲、員工生產力提高，我們確實是您關注的重點，在這方面非常成功。他們的轉變非常快。現在只是想知道，您坐在座位上，您可能有多年的觀點，以及您是否可以實現一些長期的結構效率目標。我在這裡指的是像駝峰碼這樣的事情，以及需要更長的時間才能解決的事情，當你第一次擔任你現在可能在這裡看到的角色時，也許你沒有立即看到這些事情。

I'm just wondering if when you look at the hump yards that Union Pacific has on its network, do you think they're right aligned? Or do you see some opportunity to reduce some of those or any other infrastructure assets that are on the network?

我只是想知道，當您查看聯合太平洋公司網路上的駝峰堆場時，您是否認為它們是正確對齊的？或者您認為有機會減少網路上的其中一些或任何其他基礎設施資產？

Walter, nice talking to you again and good question. So the railroad, the way I look at it is there's nothing wrong with hump yards, but they have to fit into the fluidity and the touch points of how many times we touch cars and how many cars we actually have to handle. And hump yards are okay. So at this point, with the way the network is -- as far as getting into that detail, is good. What I don't like that I've seen is our put through is not as fast. Our dwell needs to drop our dwell and the amount of time that we have railcars in yards, at the intermodal terminals, at intermediate points will drive productivity gains so that we are able to have more fluidity and that's real important to me.

沃爾特，很高興再次與你交談，這是個好問題。因此，我對鐵路的看法是，駝峰站場沒有任何問題，但它們必須適應流動性和接觸點，即我們接觸汽車的次數以及我們實際上必須處理的汽車數量。駝峰碼還可以。所以在這一點上，就網路的方式而言——就細節而言，是好的。我不喜歡的是我們的接通速度沒有那麼快。我們的停留時間需要減少我們的停留時間，我們在堆場、多式聯運終點站和中間點擁有軌道車的時間將推動生產力的提高，以便我們能夠擁有更多的流動性，這對我來說非常重要。

Now when I came back -- last time I came with one goal, I came back -- I came to work drive operational efficiency. I didn't look at the rest of the company very much and the rest of the company needs to be looked at. And that's what we're doing now. So everything that we did operationally, we are going to look at what we've done.

現在，當我回來時——上次我帶著一個目標回來了——我來工作以提高營運效率。我沒有太多地關注公司的其他部分，公司的其他部分也需要關注。這就是我們現在正在做的事情。因此，我們在操作上所做的一切，我們都會審視我們所做的事情。

And one example is the delayering exercise, you can't have 9 levels from the CEO to the people who actually do the work and expect that the message is clear, the decisions are made clear, and there isn't some hiccup in -- the decision stops. And I want to drive it so that we have way less layers. And that means with less layers, the people out in the field are empowered to make the right decision, which train to hump, which train to switch, how we move the cars, what are we doing to customers, what are we doing for scheduling, how are we loading, is our loading pattern right. So many things that we can do.

一個例子是拖延練習，你不能有從首席執行官到實際從事工作的人員的 9 個級別，並期望信息是明確的，決策是明確的，並且沒有任何問題 -決定停止。我想推動它，這樣我們的層數就會少很多。這意味著，透過更少的層次，現場人員能夠做出正確的決定，哪些火車要駝峰，哪些火車要換車，我們如何移動車廂，我們為客戶做什麼，我們為調度做了什麼，我們如何加載，我們的加載模式是否正確。我們可以做很多事。

And if we do that -- they're better at it than us, Walter. There's no way that Jim Vena, even though I think I'm a decent operator, I could go operate the hump yard, maybe when I retire next time, I'll become just a hump yard operator in one place and see how well because I think a few people would love me to go out there and see if I'm as good as I say sometimes, okay? But at the end of the day, that's what's important. And that's one of the things. That's a big change, this delayering exercise that we're going through and stay tuned, we'll announce what the findings are as we move ahead.

如果我們這樣做——他們比我們更擅長，沃爾特。吉姆·維納，即使我認為我是一名不錯的操作員，我也不可能去操作駝峰堆場，也許下次我退休時，我會成為一個地方的駝峰堆場操作員，看看效果如何，因為我想有些人會喜歡我出去看看我有時是否像我說的那麼好，好嗎？但歸根究底，這才是最重要的。這就是其中之一。這是一個很大的變化，我們正在經歷這種延遲練習，請繼續關注，我們將在前進時宣布調查結果。

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

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團 (UBS) 的湯姆·瓦德維茨 (Tom Wadewitz)。

Yes. And Jim, I also wanted to say welcome back. I think the -- this is a bit of a high-level question, and I'm guessing the answer is kind of both. But wanted to see if you could give some color on how we should look at the opportunity in terms of being a volume story or a cost story. I mean you clearly did a lot with cost last time in 2019, 2020. You are talking a lot about productivity. But what's the -- what's really the more important lever for operating income growth in the next couple of years? Is this a little bit of productivity and a lot of volume? And then I guess to the extent that there's the productivity side, is that driven by headcount reduction? Or is that really more other cost buckets like locomotive costs, car costs, that type of thing?

是的。吉姆，我也想說歡迎回來。我認為這是一個有點高層次的問題，我猜答案是兩者兼而有之。但想看看你是否可以就我們應該如何看待這個機會，從銷售故事還是成本故事的角度給出一些說明。我的意思是，您在 2019 年、2020 年上一次顯然在成本方面做了很多工作。您談論了很多關於生產力的問題。但未來幾年對營業收入成長更重要的槓桿到底是什麼？這是生產力一點點，體積很大嗎？然後我想，在生產力方面，這是否是由人員減少所推動的？或者這真的是更多的其他成本，例如機車成本、汽車成本等？

Good question. Why don't we start with -- Kenny, why don't you talk about the opportunity on the growth side, the pricing side and what we have -- what we're looking forward to.

好問題。我們為什麼不從——肯尼，為什麼不談談成長方面的機會、定價方面以及我們所擁有的——我們所期待的。

So we talked a little bit about it in terms of markets like our biofuels, very bullish on our construction and autos, I mean, just set aside the strike that's going on now. I talked about the business development win, but it's still holding up from a demand environment. We need the strike to come back. And then we've talked about international intermodal. Now we've had a little bit of what I'll call a seasonal bump, we'll call it peak season. And you've heard me say we haven't had one in a few years, so it's nice to see one.

因此，我們就生物燃料等市場進行了一些討論，非常看好我們的建築和汽車，我的意思是，先把現在正在進行的罷工放在一邊。我談到了業務發展的勝利，但它仍然在需求環境中保持不變。我們需要罷工回來。然後我們討論了國際聯運。現在我們已經經歷了一些我稱之為季節性高峰的情況，我們稱之為旺季。你聽我說過，我們已經好幾年沒有這樣的人了，所以很高興看到這樣的人。

But on the domestic side, also there's just still a tremendous amount of over-the-road share that there. We think it's in the low teens that's in between out of Mexico and into Mexico in terms of over-the-road share that we should be gathering. Eric is out there getting us more improved products. We've got a lot of optionality out of Mexico. We see that as a growth engine. As some of these consumer-facing products improve, we've always said that we felt good about our petrochem business. Industrial chem is also included in that. So if you look across the line, there's a lot of upside, and we're very bullish on the volume growth that's there.

但在國內方面，仍有大量的公路份額。我們認為，就我們應該收集的公路份額而言，介於墨西哥出境和進入墨西哥之間的青少年數量。艾瑞克正在為我們帶來更多改進的產品。我們在墨西哥之外有很多選擇。我們將其視為成長引擎。隨著其中一些面向消費者的產品的改進，我們一直說我們對我們的石化業務感覺良好。工業化學也包含在內。因此，如果你綜觀全局，你會發現有很大的上升空間，我們非常看好那裡的銷售成長。

So Eric, why don't you talk about it? Because the question is great. It's -- there's no advantage of buts that we have to grow the business. We have the price and take care of what's happened to us inflation-wise and leverage our network, but productivity, what do you see? Your piece of it.

那麼艾瑞克，你為什麼不談談呢？因為這個問題很大。這沒有任何好處，但我們必須發展業務。我們有價格，可以處理發生在我們身上的通貨膨脹問題並利用我們的網絡，但是生產力，你看到了什麼？你的一部分。

Absolutely. We talked about productivity really differentiated into 2 buckets. To some of our commentary already this morning, there's no easy productivity, but this most straightforward productivity is when you get that volume, how do you leverage it on the existing network that we have, the existing trains we have, the whole idea of being volume variable plus. The other bucket of productivity is how we actually do the work. So when we think about our locomotive shops, our mechanical shops or our engineering gains, for example, on the non-op side, it's a real challenge to them to say, "Hey, you still need to do the important work, how you do it more efficiently."

絕對地。我們討論了生產力其實分為兩類。對於我們今天早上的一些評論來說，生產力並不容易，但最直接的生產力是當你獲得這個數量時，你如何利用我們現有的網絡、我們現有的火車、整個想法體積可變加。生產力的另一部分是我們實際運作的方式。因此，當我們考慮我們的機車車間、機械車間或工程收益時，例如，在非操作方面，對他們來說，這是一個真正的挑戰，「嘿，你仍然需要做重要的工作，你如何做得更有效率。”

So when we think about going into a locomotive facility and making sure that we balance the headcount to the exact number of locomotives they have, to the forecasted number, to being really thoughtful about how do we use that material in there, to being thoughtful about how do we think about redoing cores. I mean there's infinite areas of opportunity within each one of our departments to be able to look deep into the business, deep into the work and really find those opportunities. To Jim's point, it's a little bit harder work than it was a few years ago, but it's still work that we know how to do and work that we'll be successful doing.

因此，當我們考慮進入機車設施並確保平衡人員數量與機車的確切數量、預測數量時，要真正考慮到如何使用那裡的材料，要考慮到我們如何考慮重做核心。我的意思是，我們每個部門都有無限的機會領域，能夠深入了解業務、深入工作並真正找到這些機會。就吉姆而言，這比幾年前的工作要困難一些，但這仍然是我們知道如何做的工作，我們會成功地完成這項工作。

And I know neither one of them wanted to touch it, they always leave those things for me. People is going to be one. We look for cost savings on what our input costs are. And of course, it's much more difficult on -- in the inflationary place that we find ourselves in this country, but we're going to look for every opportunity to use less so that we can save costs that way. And on headcount, absolutely, we're going to use attrition to rightsize the company as much as we can to what we know now, we've identified where we want to get to. So it will be through attrition mostly, and we'll move ahead from there. Thanks for the question.

我知道他們誰也不想碰它，他們總是把那些東西留給我。人們將合而為一。我們尋求在投入成本的基礎上節省成本。當然，在我們國家的通貨膨脹地區，這要困難得多，但我們將尋找一切機會減少使用，以便我們可以透過這種方式節省成本。在員工人數方面，我們絕對會利用人員流失來盡可能地調整公司規模，以達到我們現在所知的水平，我們已經確定了我們想要達到的目標。所以這主要是透過消耗來實現，我們將從那裡繼續前進。謝謝你的提問。

The next question comes from the line of David Vernon with Bernstein.

下一個問題來自大衛·弗農和伯恩斯坦的對話。

So I wanted to talk a little bit about -- or wondering if you could talk a little bit about the earnings leverage we should have from some of the intermodal agreements you guys are signing, obviously, the Falcon service, the partnership with NS. How should we be thinking about the profile from a margin perspective of that traffic coming on, particularly early here as truck rates remain low and it seems like intermodal companies are out there just counting the service to take some share?

所以我想談談——或者想知道你是否可以談談我們應該從你們正在簽署的一些聯運協議中獲得的收益槓桿，顯然，獵鷹服務，與 NS 的合作夥伴關係。我們應該如何從運輸量的利潤角度來考慮概況，特別是在早期，因為卡車費率仍然很低，而且聯運公司似乎只是在計算服務以獲取一些份額？

And then maybe a bigger picture, Jim, could you talk a little bit about how you see the competitive dynamic for UP changing post the CPKC acquisition. We've heard a lot from Lance in the past on this, but I don't think we've had a chance to hear you talk about how that acquisition creates risks or opportunities for Union Pacific from your perspective?

Jim，您能否談談您對 CPKC 收購後 UP 競爭動態變化的看法？過去，我們從蘭斯那裡聽到過很多關於此事的信息，但我認為我們沒有機會聽到您從您的角度談論這次收購如何為聯合太平洋公司帶來風險或機會？

Okay, Jennifer.

好吧，珍妮佛。

Thanks, David, for that question. You've heard us talk about margins before in terms of the -- when we look at it, where you see some of the greatest margin pressure relative to our book of business is in that business, it's truck competitive. And we certainly are in a truck competitive market today. But that's also our opportunity that you've heard us talk about in terms of tremendous growth, and we know that there's leverage in margins from volume growth that can help drive greater productivity. And as we are building a better service product, certainly, as we provide better service, there's a price for that service. And we look to price to that to be able to meet that customer demand. I don't know, Kenny, if you want to add anything to that?

謝謝大衛提出這個問題。你以前聽過我們談論過利潤率——當我們審視它時，你會發現相對於我們的業務而言，最大的利潤壓力來自於該業務，它是卡車的競爭。如今，我們確實處於卡車競爭激烈的市場。但這也是我們的機會，您已經聽到我們談論巨大的成長，我們知道銷售成長的利潤率可以幫助提高生產力。當我們正在建立更好的服務產品時，當然，當我們提供更好的服務時，該服務是有價格的。我們希望定價能夠滿足客戶的需求。我不知道，肯尼，你還想補充什麼？

No. The only thing I'd say is that as we're looking in the current environment, we're certainly keeping our customers competitive with mechanisms that we have in our contracts, and we are clear-eyed about as the markets change, they're stable now, if they get a little bit more tighter, demand strengthens, we'll see upside from a price perspective, which should show up in margin.

不。我唯一要說的是，在我們當前的環境下，我們肯定會透過合約中的機制保持客戶的競爭力，並且隨著市場的變化，我們很清楚，它們現在很穩定，如果它們變得更緊一點，需求增強，我們將從價格角度看到上漲空間，這應該會反映在利潤率上。

And on the competitive dynamic and the specific example of CPKC. So I think they're a great railroad. I think they have a great network. I think they're a leader, Keith, he's a friend. I've known him for a long time, and he's smart, knows how to railroad. So he knows how to balance safety service, asset utilization, cost control and developing his people, same thing as we do. So the competition is, and I like it. There's nothing wrong with little competition. So I want to win, he wants to win.

並介紹了CPKC的競爭動態和具體例子。所以我認為他們是一條很棒的鐵路。我認為他們有一個很棒的網路。我認為他們是一位領導者，基思，他是一位朋友。我認識他很久了，他很聰明，知道如何鐵路。所以他知道如何平衡安全服務、資產利用、成本控制和員工發展，就像我們一樣。所以競爭就是這樣，我喜歡它。競爭少沒有什麼問題。所以我想贏，他也想贏。

There's no advantage of buts that the CPKC, if it's origination to destination on their railroad we have a competitive disadvantage. But the advantage we have is we've got this great network. We go through 23 states. We serve the population in the U.S., we have fast access. We have a 70-mile an hour railroad. We're fast. And if we have to be, if that's what we sold was fast, we can do that. And you can see it when we move our parcel business as we're doing and getting up to their peak period coming up towards Christmas. So all those things, plus we have access into Mexico, broader access than 1 or 2 places. We go into the -- into Mexico, from the West Coast all the way east in a number of locations. And we have a strong partner in FXE. And as you know, we own 26% of them, and that helps us.

沒有任何優勢，但 CPKC，如果是從他們的鐵路出發到目的地，我們就處於競爭劣勢。但我們的優勢是我們擁有強大的網路。我們經過 23 個州。我們為美國人民服務，我們有快速的訪問權限。我們有一條時速 70 英里的鐵路。我們很快。如果我們必須這樣做，如果我們賣得很快，我們就可以做到。當我們轉移包裹業務並在聖誕節前夕進入高峰期時，您可以看到這一點。所有這些，加上我們可以進入墨西哥，比一兩個地方更廣泛的進入。我們進入墨西哥，從西海岸一直向東，在許多地方。我們在 FXE 領域擁有強大的合作夥伴。如您所知，我們擁有其中 26% 的股份，這對我們很有幫助。

So I'm excited. CPKC is going to make it difficult and we're going to make it difficult. Now I don't chase price. This is not a price discussion. It's about a service and access to markets and how we do it. And I'll walk away from business if somebody wants to lower their price. Go ahead, take the business, I'll bring in business that fits our network, that makes sense. So that's how I think of the competitors, and I could have that discussion about all the other railroads. I want us all to be really good and strong.

所以我很興奮。 CPKC 會讓事情變得困難，我們也會讓事情變得困難。現在我不追價格了。這不是價格討論。這是關於服務和市場准入以及我們如何做到這一點。如果有人想降低價格，我就會放棄生意。來吧，接受業務，我將帶來適合我們網路的業務，這是有意義的。這就是我對競爭對手的看法，我可以對所有其他鐵路進行討論。我希望我們所有人都變得非常優秀和堅強。

So are you seeing a potential volume risk from a diversion standpoint?

那麼，從轉移的角度來看，您是否看到了潛在的交易量風險？

Kenny?

肯尼？

No, we're going out there. We feel good about the service product. We're going head on. We're ready to compete. Again, the North Star, and I said this earlier, it's over the road. So we're on offense and we're starting off well.

不，我們要去那裡。我們對服務產品感覺良好。我們要迎頭而去。我們已經準備好參加比賽了。再說一遍，北極星，我之前說過，它就在馬路對面。所以我們處於進攻狀態，並且開局良好。

(Operator Instructions) Next question will be coming from the line of Allison Poliniak with Wells Fargo.

（操作員說明）下一個問題將來自富國銀行的 Allison Poliniak 線路。

Kenny, can you expand a little bit on that over-the-road opportunity? Is it something that you're seeing build a lot more in the pipeline today? I know you had talked about some of your customers wanting to see maybe more reliable service before that sort of conversion happens in terms of those opportunities. But any color on how we should think about progression in terms of today versus the multiyear out?

肯尼，可以詳細介紹一下這個路上的機會嗎？您今天是否看到更多正在建設中的東西？我知道您曾談到您的一些客戶希望在這些機會發生此類轉換之前看到更可靠的服務。但是，我們應該如何考慮今天與未來多年的進展有什麼不同嗎？

Yes. So again, I mentioned roughly mid-teens, call it 15% that's our estimation that's moving rail out of there. We see that as a ripe opportunity to go after that over-the-road product. We've got to revise more competitive, faster service product that Eric is delivering on in the high 90 percentile for what we've scheduled that to. And we have seen some wins. We have seen some over-the-road wins come early. We've added extra products that I talked about going into the Southeast. Remember, we're moving, Allison, our products 7 days a week -- that's in a few days a week, and customers like that. And we see it as the right spot to go after and grow.

是的。所以，我再次提到了大約十幾歲左右，稱之為 15%，這是我們對鐵路運輸的估計。我們認為這是一個追求非公路產品的成熟機會。我們必須修改埃里克正在交付的更具競爭力、更快的服務產品，以達到我們預定的目標。我們已經看到了一些勝利。我們已經看到一些過早的勝利。我們添加了我談到的進入東南部的額外產品。請記住，艾莉森，我們每週 7 天都會運送我們的產品 - 也就是說每週只有幾天，客戶喜歡這樣。我們認為這是一個值得追求和成長的地方。

Our next question is from the line of Chris Wetherbee with Citigroup.

我們的下一個問題來自花旗集團的 Chris Wetherbee。

So we noticed that headcount was down sequentially for the first time in a while, and Jim, you noted using attrition here. So maybe thinking about the next couple of quarters, should we expect head count to stay relatively flat, maybe come down a little bit as you use attrition? And then maybe asked a different way, how much volume do you think you can manage with current headcount? So as we hopefully see a recovery in freight as we move forward, is there an opportunity to leverage this existing workforce to drive more productivity without adding heads?

所以我們注意到員工人數一段時間以來第一次連續下降，吉姆，你注意到這裡使用了自然減員。因此，也許考慮一下接下來的幾個季度，我們是否應該期望員工數量保持相對平穩，或者在使用自然減員時可能會下降一點？然後可能會以不同的方式問，您認為以目前的員工人數可以管理多少數量？因此，隨著我們的前進，我們希望看到貨運業的復甦，是否有機會利用現有的勞動力來提高生產力而不增加人員？

Chris, nice to hear your voice again. There's so many pluses and minuses, additions or subtractions. We still haven't fully implemented the 11 and 4 deal on scheduling with BLET. And we haven't concluded negotiations with SMART-TD on what that does. So we have to see how that goes. The general way I see it, though, is that we do want to see a more productive workforce in the company as we move ahead. But I would be remiss to tell you without those collective agreements in place of exactly what the timeline is. But you know me by now, that I always look at what do we need of the railroad and is at the right level to be productive with it.

克里斯，很高興再次聽到你的聲音。有這麼多的優點和缺點，增加或減少。我們還沒有完全實現 BLET 調度的 11 和 4 協定。我們還沒有與 SMART-TD 就其用途進行談判。所以我們必須看看情況如何。不過，我的整體看法是，隨著我們的前進，我們確實希望看到公司員工隊伍的生產力更高。但如果沒有這些集體協議來代替確切的時間表，我就無法告訴你們。但你現在已經了解我了，我總是關注我們對鐵路的需求，並處於適當的水平來提高鐵路的生產力。

So I'll do everything I can. But with those outstanding items, we still -- there's -- I just can't give you a black-and-white answer of what the timeline is and how fast those changes go to where I want to take it. It might take a little bit longer than when -- if we didn't have those deals in place.

所以我會盡我所能。但對於這些出色的項目，我們仍然——有——我只是無法給你一個黑白分明的答案，告訴你時間表是什麼，以及這些變化達到我想要的目標的速度有多快。如果我們沒有達成這些協議的話，這可能需要比原來更長的時間。

Yes. But Jim, I do think it's safe to say, once we have the those deals implemented, and we're working to drive the productivity. Our long-term view is that we can grow volumes faster than we grow headcount.

是的。但是吉姆，我確實認為可以肯定地說，一旦我們實施了這些交易，我們就會努力提高生產力。我們的長期觀點是，我們的銷售成長速度可以快於員工數量的成長速度。

Absolutely.

絕對地。

Next question is from the line of Brandon Oglenski with Barclays.

下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的布蘭登‧奧格倫斯基。

Congrats, Jim. So Jim, I guess, I think if we look back over the last number of CEOs at Union Pacific, the disappointment that I think probably all of them would share would be lack of relative volume growth and as I'm looking at my model here, I think RTMs this year are probably going to end up being down more than like 25% from where this company peaked way back in 2006. So as much as we're talking about service and the ability to grow and the pipeline looks strong, like we've heard that before. So what is different looking forward with you as CEO at Union Pacific that you think you can really capture some of that market opportunity?

恭喜，吉姆。所以吉姆，我想，如果我們回顧一下聯合太平洋公司最後幾位首席執行官，我認為他們可能都會感到失望，因為相對數量增長缺乏，正如我在這裡查看我的模型一樣，我認為今年的RTM 最終可能會比該公司2006 年的峰值下降25% 以上。因此，儘管我們談論的是服務和成長能力，而且管道看起來很強大，就像我們以前聽說過的那樣。那麼，作為聯合太平洋公司的首席執行官，您認為自己能夠真正抓住一些市場機會，您對此有何不同的期望？

Well, I'm going to repeat myself, but it truly is, you have to have the fundamentals, you have to provide the service. You have to see what's happening. And I think we can grow faster than what the economy gives us. And that's our goal, and that's where we're going to drive it. Judge me in a year, okay? I want the Board to judge me. I want the shareholders to judge me and the team, and I think we're there. I think we can do that.

好吧，我要重複一遍，但事實確實如此，你必須具備基礎知識，你必須提供服務。你必須看看發生了什麼事。我認為我們的成長速度可以超過經濟帶給我們的速度。這就是我們的目標，也是我們要實現的目標。一年後審判我，好嗎？我希望董事會對我做出評價。我希望股東能夠對我和團隊做出評價，我想我們也同意。我認為我們可以做到。

Do we have some headwinds? Absolutely. You know the industry as well as I do. Coal is always an issue that we have to deal with. But the rest of the products that we have, we're going to go after it. We're going to go get it. We're going to bring it on in the right place. And if we grow not as fast as we want, we're going to price properly for the service we're providing. So I think it's a win-win, and let's talk next year. I'll put it on my calendar. You can ask me the question of how we're doing, okay.

我們有一些逆風嗎？絕對地。你和我一樣了解這個行業。煤炭始終是我們必須面對的問題。但我們擁有的其餘產品，我們將繼續追求。我們要去拿它。我們將把它放在正確的地方。如果我們的成長速度沒有我們想要的那麼快，我們將為我們提供的服務定價適當。所以我認為這是雙贏的，我們明年再談。我會把它記在我的日曆上。你可以問我我們做得怎麼樣的問題，好嗎？

Our next question is from the line of Jonathan Chappell with Evercore ISI.

我們的下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Jonathan Chappell。

Kenny, we've talked about a lot of things as it relates to intermodal, new services, best wins, conceptually there should be some share shift back to the West Coast, hopefully, after a couple of years of losses there. But the truckload market on the over-the-road opportunity continues to bounce along this bottom. So how competitive is the pricing dynamic within intermodal, whether it's your new services relative to other rail options or relative to truck. And how do you manage then the capacity you're willing to commit to these new kind of growth alternatives when you do have maybe a competitive pricing landscape that's more difficult at this point of the cycle?

肯尼，我們討論了很多與多式聯運、新服務、最佳勝利有關的事情，從概念上講，在經歷了幾年的損失之後，應該有一些份額轉移回西海岸。但卡車裝載市場的公路運輸機會繼續沿著這個底部反彈。那麼，無論是相對於其他鐵路選項還是相對於卡車的新服務，多式聯運的定價動態有多有競爭力。當你確實擁有一個競爭性的定價環境，但在週期的這個階段變得更加困難時，你如何管理你願意致力於這些新型成長替代方案的容量？

Yes. First of all, it's great that we put the investments in for our intermodal network. You've heard me mention them. I won't go over them again, but it does start there. Obviously, the service matters. We've been deliberate about making sure we can insert optionality on that domestic intermodal product, and we've done that. You've heard us talk about the strong stable we have as you look at Hub and Schneider and if -- and FTG that's there, our rail product with EMP, UMAX, and we've invested in that fleet from a GPS perspective, invested in the ramp.

是的。首先，我們對多式聯運網路進行了投資，這真是太好了。你聽我提到他們。我不會再回顧它們，但它確實從這裡開始。顯然，服務很重要。我們一直在深思熟慮，確保我們能夠在國內多式聯運產品上插入選擇性，而我們已經做到了。當你看到 Hub 和 Schneider 以及 FTG 時，你已經聽到我們談論我們擁有的強大穩定性，我們的鐵路產品包括 EMP、UMAX，我們從 GPS 的角度投資了車隊，投資了在坡道上。

So we're prepared from that standpoint. You -- I think your question is a little bit about how we keep them competitive. And I've talked about that in terms of, again, we have mechanisms to make sure that our customers regardless IMCs, private assets are competitive. And what we want to be is just nimble and quick and change with the market so that we can get that margin and price improvement as we move along.

因此，從這個角度來看，我們已經準備好了。你——我認為你的問題是關於我們如何保持他們的競爭力。我再次談到，我們有機制來確保我們的客戶（無論 IMC、私人資產）都具有競爭力。我們想要的只是靈活、快速並隨著市場的變化而變化，這樣我們就可以在前進的過程中獲得利潤和價格的改善。

Our next question is from the line of Bascome Majors with Susquehanna.

我們的下一個問題來自巴斯克梅專業隊與薩斯奎哈納隊。

Jim, you said you had about 500 locomotives parked. I was curious just high level, how do you think about the locomotive strategy at UP versus what you inherited? I know you've got a big order for refurbishment that will go out several years. But just strategically, longer term, how are refurbished locomotives performing? Where do you see your CapEx going over the next 3, 5, 7 years to satisfy both the service needs you have and the emissions targets you put out there?

吉姆，你說你停放了大約 500 輛機車。我很好奇高層，你如何看待 UP 的機車策略與你繼承的策略？我知道你們接到了一份大的整修訂單，需要幾年的時間。但從策略角度來看，從長遠來看，翻新機車的表現如何？您認為未來 3、5、7 年您的資本支出將如何滿足您的服務需求和您設定的排放目標？

Okay. So we'll continue to invest in our locomotives. And Bascome, we'll always make sure that we have the right locomotive and make them as fuel efficient as possible so that we can save fuel when we're operating. No advantage of buts that's what we'll continue to do. And as far as where the CapEx, we're not ready now, but I'm pretty sure that you'll see our CapEx be in at a different starting point next year than where we were this year. And that's how I view it and stay tuned. And when we get into January, we'll give you the numbers of what our plan is for next year.

好的。因此，我們將繼續投資於我們的機車。 Bascome，我們將始終確保我們擁有合適的機車，並盡可能提高它們的燃油效率，以便我們在運行時可以節省燃油。沒有任何優勢，但這就是我們將繼續做的事情。就資本支出而言，我們現在還沒有準備好，但我很確定明年我們的資本支出將處於與今年不同的起點。這就是我的看法並保持關注。當我們進入一月份時，我們將向您提供明年計劃的數字。

Our next question is from the line of Jeff Kauffman with Vertical Research Partners.

我們的下一個問題來自垂直研究合作夥伴的傑夫考夫曼。

Jim, welcome back and congratulations. You've answered this a couple of different ways, but let me come at this in terms of what's different from 2019 since you came back. I think you talked a little bit about what's different at the railroad, but maybe talk about in terms of the customer expectations in the market or kind of where volume is, where business is and how the railroad in your view, needs to adapt?

吉姆，歡迎回來並祝賀你。您已經用幾種不同的方式回答了這個問題，但讓我從您回來以來與 2019 年的不同之處來談談這個問題。我想你談到了鐵路的不同之處，但也許會談論市場上的客戶期望，或者是運輸量、業務以及你認為鐵路需要如何適應？

Well, I think railroading, the basic foundation of railroad hasn't changed from 2019. How we look at the business at Union Pacific, how fast we are making decisions needs the change.

嗯，我認為鐵路，鐵路的基本基礎自 2019 年以來沒有改變。我們如何看待聯合太平洋公司的業務，我們決策的速度需要改變。

When I showed up, I asked Kenny to give me a number of customers that I could talk to at a high level and talk about what our services, what our plan was. And one of them said to me that they wanted to invest a lot of money to be able to build out because there was expansions going on in the soda patch -- soda ash patch. So at the end of it, it was taking us over a year to give them a decision on whether we could do that. We need to change that. And if we change that and we were able to make the decision in 4 days, I got it. We can't make decisions in 4 days all the time, but we sure can make them in a few weeks instead of months. That's really important. That's a change in the way we want to do business.

當我出現時，我請肯尼給我一些客戶，我可以與他們進行高層交談，談論我們的服務是什麼，我們的計劃是什麼。其中一位對我說，他們希望投資大量資金來擴建，因為蘇打礦區（蘇打灰礦區）正在進行擴建。所以最後，我們花了一年多的時間讓他們決定我們是否可以這樣做。我們需要改變這一點。如果我們改變這一點並且我們能夠在 4 天內做出決定，我明白了。我們不可能總是在四天內做出決定，但我們肯定可以在幾週而不是幾個月內做出決定。這真的很重要。這是我們開展業務方式的改變。

And the customers, the feedback was, there's opportunity for them to win in their marketplace, the customers that we have. So we need to build on that. And that's really important. The foundation is the same. We're going to operate a very efficient railroad, having a buffer, the fundamentals -- the 5 key fundamentals of how you operate the railroad, I'm not changing from. It's true, it's tested, it wins, it puts us in the right place. I'm not changing. And -- but we need to be consistent with our customers, work better for them to grow, and we win.

客戶的回饋是，他們有機會贏得他們的市場，也就是我們擁有的客戶。所以我們需要以此為基礎。這真的很重要。基礎是一樣的。我們將營運一條非常有效率的鐵路，擁有緩衝、基本面——關於如何運作鐵路的 5 個關鍵基本面，我不會改變。這是真的，它經過了考驗，它獲勝，它讓我們處於正確的位置。我不改變。而且——但我們需要與客戶保持一致，更好地工作以促進他們的成長，這樣我們就贏了。

So I'm looking forward to the challenge. One big difference between 2019 and now, my wife is still mad at me that I went back to work, okay? But other than that, everything else is good.

所以我很期待挑戰。 2019 年和現在的一大區別是，我妻子還在生我的氣，因為我回去工作了，好嗎？但除此之外，其他一切都很好。

Our next question is from the line of Ravi Shanker with Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Ravi Shanker。

Just a follow-up on the Mexico and Falcon service commentary. Jim or Kenny, kind of -- when you talk to customers kind of who are looking to potentially convert from truck or can convert from another railroad. How important is speed in their equation relative to an overall value proposition? I mean you said that you're at a bit of a structural disadvantage kind of given the interchange versus your peer, but what can you do from an overall value prop to kind of be competitive and kind of work against that structure? Does it (inaudible), if you will.

只是墨西哥和獵鷹服務評論的後續內容。吉姆或肯尼，當你與那些希望從卡車轉換或可以從另一條鐵路轉換的客戶交談時。相對於整體價值主張，速度在他們的等式中有多重要？我的意思是，你說，考慮到與同行的交流，你處於某種結構性劣勢，但是你能從整體價值支撐上做些什麼來保持競爭力並對抗這種結構呢？如果你願意的話，就這樣做（聽不清楚）。

Yes. Listen, I probably wasn't clear. I don't think structurally we have any issue with any competitor. I just wanted to give due to CPKC, if you're an origination railroad just like us, if we originate in Salt Lake and we're going to Boise, Idaho, it's pretty hard for somebody to compete against us, another railroad. That's all I was saying. At the end of the day, I think we compete against anybody because of the network we have, the speed we have and what we're capable to open up for markets. Kenny?

是的。聽著，我可能沒說清楚。我認為從結構上講，我們與任何競爭對手都沒有任何問題。我只是想為 CPKC 做出貢獻，如果你是像我們一樣的始發鐵路，如果我們起源於鹽湖城並且要去愛達荷州博伊西，那麼有人很難與我們（另一家鐵路）競爭。我就是這麼說的。歸根結底，我認為我們可以與任何人競爭，因為我們擁有的網路、我們擁有的速度以及我們開拓市場的能力。肯尼？

So first of all, we know our customers. We know that automotive OEM with auto part for production is different than, say, an FAK business of -- contain our pillars. They are different. What differentiates us in that sense, I talked about the revised service product, that is going to help us with customers that are speed sensitive. The fact that we have every day per week service, that's going to help us because that matters also. The fact that we have a group of private asset owners, and we also have our own containers to go into Mexico, that makes a difference. So again, we know our customers and those are the things that we talk to our customers about as we're winning business over the road.

因此，首先，我們了解我們的客戶。我們知道，生產汽車零件的汽車 OEM 不同於 FAK 業務——包含我們的支柱。他們是不同的。從這個意義上說，我們的與眾不同之處在於，我談到了修訂的服務產品，這將幫助我們應對對速度敏感的客戶。事實上，我們每週每天都有服務，這將對我們有所幫助，因為這也很重要。事實上，我們有一群私人資產所有者，我們也有自己的貨櫃可以進入墨西哥，這很重要。再說一次，我們了解我們的客戶，這些都是我們在贏得業務時與客戶談論的事情。

Our final question is from the line of Justin Long from Stephens.

我們的最後一個問題來自史蒂芬斯的賈斯汀朗。

Jennifer, you talked about comp per employee being up about 3% this year, but I wasn't sure if that included the impact of the abnormal labor costs from last year. So how do you expect comp per employee to trend sequentially into the fourth quarter? And as we move into 2024, do you think this is an area where the productivity opportunity has potential to fully offset the inflation headwinds we're seeing?

Jennifer，您談到今年員工人均薪資成長了約 3%，但我不確定這是否包括去年異常勞動成本的影響。那麼，您預期第四季的每位員工薪資趨勢如何？當我們進入 2024 年時，您認為這個領域的生產力機會有可能完全抵消我們所看到的通膨阻力嗎？

So thanks for the question, Justin. In terms of your first question, when we talk about comp per employee, we do try to make it apples-to-apples. So we take out any of the one-timers. In terms of looking at it sequentially, as we go into the fourth quarter, there's probably a couple of things going on there to think about and consider. One is, as we're continuing to take people out of training classes, put them into full-time positions on the railroad. There's a little bit higher costs associated with that. And then just some of the OE capital mix that you get in the fourth quarter as you wind down some of the capital programs that can put a little pressure on there as well.

謝謝你的提問，賈斯汀。就你的第一個問題而言，當我們談論員工薪資時，我們確實盡力做到同等對待。所以我們去掉了所有一次性的。從順序來看，當我們進入第四季時，可能有一些事情需要思考和考慮。一是，我們繼續讓人們退出培訓班，讓他們在鐵路上擔任全職職位。與此相關的成本稍高一些。然後，當你逐步結束一些資本計畫時，你會在第四季度獲得一些營運商資本組合，這也會給那裡帶來一些壓力。

Looking long term, again, productivity and being able to offset cost inflation with productivity is always one of our objectives. Certainly, it's hard and a very high inflation environment, but that's our opportunity as well. That gives us the opportunity to really look critically at the work that's being done and make sure that we're being as efficient as we possibly can be. And I think you've heard on the call today, we see opportunities across the board, whether you're talking about how we're maintaining our locomotive fleet, how we're looking at our back-office functions, how we're managing the transportation employees. We have opportunities to be more efficient there.

再次從長遠來看，生產力以及能夠用生產力抵消成本通膨始終是我們的目標之一。當然，這是一個艱難且通貨膨脹率很高的環境，但這也是我們的機會。這讓我們有機會真正批判性地審視正在完成的工作，並確保我們盡可能有效率。我想您在今天的電話會議上已經聽到，我們看到了全面的機會，無論您是在談論我們如何維護我們的機車車隊，我們如何看待我們的後台職能，我們如何管理運輸員工。我們有機會在那裡提高效率。

Well, listen, thanks, everyone, and let me tie this up, and I really appreciate everybody taking the time this morning to join us and talk about Union Pacific. And I think the team that's with me here has done a great job of explaining what we do, but let me summarize it real quick.

好吧，聽著，謝謝大家，讓我把這件事聯繫起來，我真的很感謝大家今天早上抽出時間來加入我們並談論聯合太平洋公司。我認為和我在一起的團隊在解釋我們所做的事情方面做得很好，但讓我快速總結一下。

Our goals are clear. It's about safety, service and operating excellence. That's how we win. And we're going to be really good at operations. We're going to provide consistent service to what we sold, every customer has a different level of service they required. Some of them is fast, some of them is sustainable. Some of it is making sure you're consistent. We're going to leverage the railroad. We're going to do everything we can to leverage the physical plant that we have. We're going to be efficient on how we do it. We are going to deal with stakeholders at all levels in a professional manner and listen to their inputs and see what we can do. I think we can win.

我們的目標很明確。它關乎安全、服務和卓越營運。這就是我們獲勝的方式。我們將非常擅長營運。我們將為我們銷售的產品提供一致的服務，每個客戶都有不同程度的服務需求。其中一些是快速的，一些是可持續的。其中一些是確保你的一致性。我們將利用鐵路。我們將盡一切努力利用我們現有的實體工廠。我們將有效率地開展工作。我們將以專業的方式與各級利害關係人打交道，聽取他們的意見，看看我們能做什麼。我認為我們能贏。

This is not going to be a short-term fix that -- you'll see it. But what you should notice is as we go through the next quarters, you will see us improve and when we get to the right place with the inputs that we have in this railroad. I'm excited. The team is excited. We're moving fast and again, thank you very much, everyone, for joining us, and we'll talk to you all in the next quarter, if not some time before. Thank you very much.

這不會是一個短期解決方案——你會看到的。但你應該注意到的是，當我們經歷接下來的幾個季度時，你會看到我們的進步，當我們利用這條鐵路的投入到達正確的地方時。我很興奮。團隊很興奮。我們一次又一次快速前進，非常感謝大家加入我們，我們將在下個季度（如果不是提前一段時間）與大家交談。非常感謝。

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your participation. This does conclude today's teleconference. You may now disconnect your lines at this time, and have a wonderful day.

女士們、先生們，感謝您的參與。今天的電話會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開線路，度過美好的一天。