CSX Corporation reported first quarter 2006 net earnings of $245 million, or $1.06 per share, a 56 percent increase in earnings per share from continuing operations versus the same quarter last year.

Earnings per share from last year's first quarter included a $1.88 per-share gain on the sale of the Company's discontinued operations.

First quarter 2006 earnings were driven by stronger Surface Transportation results, which include the Company's rail and intermodal businesses.

First Quarter Surface Transportation Highlights:
*Record revenues of $2.3 billion on strong overall demand.
*Record operating income of $487 million, up 39 percent from the same quarter last year.
*Record first quarter operating ratio of 79.1 percent, improved 4.2 points from the last year's first quarter.

"CSX continued to improve its underlying business performance in a strong demand environment," said Michael J. Ward, CSX Corporation chairman and chief executive officer. "Most notably, our rail operations showed solid improvements in safety, service and efficiency as we continued to execute the ONE Plan with consistency."

The Company also remained on schedule with capacity expansions, announced last August, to further enable service improvement and volume growth in attractive corridors of the Northeast and Southeast markets. Approximately one third of the projects are underway and will be completed this year, with the balance to be completed in 2007.

"CSX employees continue to gain momentum in all of the critical areas of our strategy, from revenue improvement to operating discipline," said Ward. "We will see growth in volumes and profitability as the rail renaissance unfolds, service levels continue to improve and our capacity expansions come online."