The company disclosed it had taken another $416 million charge against its second-quarter earnings, mostly to cover the estimated ongoing clean-up costs at the derailment site. That charge came on top of an earlier $387 million charge during the first quarter, bringing total charges for clean-up and compensation to more than $800 million. Those charges are for money already spent, as well as for estimates of future spending.
George said service problems continue along that stretch of track. “So we talk about probably $40 million to $45 million here in the second quarter of kind of poor service related costs, and that will start to unwind here,” he told investors. Overall the company reported it made $576 million in the second quarter after taking the charge for the derailment, so the derailment charge reduced earnings by more than 40%.