The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.
(Questions from industry analysts are provided in full, but answers are omitted - download the transcript to see the full question-and-answer session)
Question: Ravi Shanker - Morgan Stanley - Analyst
: I'm shocked. Jim, Jennifer, thank you so much for those opening comments. A great setup. Maybe a couple of follow-ups for you, Jim. Can you just
remind us from a process perspective, what is going on in UNP right now kind of and what are the next set of catalysts that we can look forward
to?
Question: Ravi Shanker - Morgan Stanley - Analyst
: I will send you, cake. I don't know what he's going to give you. Before I went up to the audience here, a quick question for you, Jennifer. Just based
on your slide on the volume trend and the mix trend, so what's the net impact of that? Is that tracking better or worse than you thought three
months ago?
And also, you guys are absolutely industry leaders from an OR perspective. So ex the merger costs, where are we looking at for a sequential OR
move versus normal seasonality?
Question: Ravi Shanker - Morgan Stanley - Analyst
: Got it. And the volume trend versus expectations, the sort of net revenue?
Question: Ravi Shanker - Morgan Stanley - Analyst
: Got it. Any questions from the audience for Jim or Jennifer? One up here.
Unidentified Participant
Just on the synergy figure and I think some of the feedback from CSX and BN after their partnership announcement has been that that dollar
amount, if accurate, is accessible to them through partnership and without having to do a merger. I'm just curious for your response on that, what
-- there seemed like there would be natural headwinds to that number, if it's not a formal merger, but I'm curious what you think about that.
Question: Ravi Shanker - Morgan Stanley - Analyst
: See we add value here at the Laguna conference. Any other questions? Yeah, one up here.
Unidentified Participant
Why is now the right time for this deal? Sorry, why is now the right time for this deal? Why not 5 years ago, 10 years ago, given that the compatibility
of the networks has not changed?
Question: Ravi Shanker - Morgan Stanley - Analyst
: Understood. Any other questions? Anyone else? A question over here.
Unidentified Participant
Just wondering if you guys can talk about your capital allocation strategy as you look out over the next couple of years in the meantime before
the merger is possibly approved, what you're kind of prioritizing?
Question: Ravi Shanker - Morgan Stanley - Analyst
: Maybe really quick in the seven seconds we have left, Jim, you said that there's a lot of competition coming for you given the transaction. Have
you seen -- in relation to the announcements made already, but have you seen competitors get more aggressive already to try and preempt
something like this from a pricing standpoint?
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