Union Pacific Revenue Hits a Record $7.197 Billion as Net Income Rises 16% and Carloads Grow 6%

Union Pacific reported third-quarter 2026 results on Thursday, Oct. 22, with total operating revenues at a record $7.2 billion, up 15% from a year earlier, net income of $2.08 billion, up 16%, and revenue carloads up 6%.

The reported and adjusted results differ by one item, and the release's reconciliation table sizes it exactly. Reported net income was $2.08 billion, up 16% from $1.79 billion a year earlier, and reported diluted earnings per share were $3.49, up 16% from $3.01. Excluding $22 million of acquisition-related expense, adjusted net income was $2.1 billion, up 15%, and adjusted diluted earnings per share were $3.53, up 15% from an adjusted $3.08 a year earlier. The adjustment is $0.04 a share in 2026; a year earlier the same class of expense was $41 million, or $0.07 a share, on TickerGrove's reading of the two reconciliation tables. The adjusted figures are the company's non-GAAP measures, presented in addition to, not as a substitute for, the reported results.

Records across the income statement

The company called the quarter a set of records: freight revenue, freight revenue excluding fuel surcharge, operating revenue, operating income and net income all reached highs. Freight revenues were $6.81 billion, up 15%, and other revenues were $384 million, up 21%, for total operating revenues of $7.2 billion. Freight revenue excluding fuel surcharge increased 6%, the cleaner demand read, because the surcharge is a pass-through that rises with diesel prices rather than with freight demand. By freight group, premium revenue rose 21% to $2.19 billion, with intermodal revenue up 27% to $1.52 billion on carloads up 11%; industrial revenue rose 14% to $2.51 billion; and bulk revenue rose 10% to $2.12 billion, even though bulk carloads were flat, as grain and coal revenue per car increased. Total revenue carloads were 2.29 million, up 6% from 2.16 million. Operating income was $2.94 billion, up 15%, and $2.97 billion on the adjusted basis.

Two operating ratios moving in opposite directions

The operating ratio — operating expenses divided by revenue, where lower is more efficient — was 59.1% on a reported basis, an improvement of 10 basis points from 59.2% a year earlier. On the adjusted basis the company reports, the ratio was 58.8%, an increase of 30 basis points from the adjusted 58.5% of a year earlier, the year-ago figure on TickerGrove's calculation from the release's reconciliation table. The two comparisons move in opposite directions because the year-ago adjustment was larger than this year's. Fuel was the dominant cost pressure either way: fuel expense was $1.04 billion, up 69%, the average fuel price rose 64% to $4.21 a gallon, and higher fuel prices unfavorably impacted the operating ratio by 140 basis points. Against that, the railroad ran more efficiently: freight car velocity was 228 daily miles per car, up 1%; average terminal dwell was 19.9 hours, a 2% improvement; the fuel consumption rate improved 2% to 1.034 gallons per thousand gross ton-miles; workforce productivity reached a record 1,219 car miles per employee, up 5%; and train length reached a record 9,969 feet.

What the quarter leaves open

Chief Executive Jim Vena said the results demonstrate the ability to safely deliver the service sold to customers while efficiently handling six percent volume growth, and added: "We look forward to the upcoming steps of the Surface Transportation Board's merger review process and to delivering the benefits of America's first transcontinental railroad for our customers." That review concerns Union Pacific's pending acquisition of Norfolk Southern, which reported its own third-quarter results the same morning. The company affirmed its outlook: reported earnings per share growth of high-single digit for 2026, consistent with a three-year compound annual growth target of high-single to low-double digit through 2027, pricing dollars in excess of inflation dollars, and an updated capital plan of $3.5 billion. Published tallies of analyst expectations for the quarter did not settle to a single figure, so no beat-or-miss verdict against expectations is stated here; the reported and adjusted growth rates above are the comparison the release itself supports. What to watch next is whether volume growth holds at 6% as fuel prices stay high, and how the merger review proceeds from here.