csx corp shares fell after hours thursday after the railroad operator reported secondquarter sales that missed expectations dragged by lower fuel and coal prices and weaker shipping volumes the company whose rail network serves much of the eastern us reported secondquarter net income of 996 million or 49 cents a share that was down from 118 billion or 54 cents a share in the same quarter last year revenue fell 3 to 369 billion compared with 382 billion in the prioryear quarter analysts polled by factset expected the company to report earnings per share of 49 cents on revenue of 373 billion csx csx attributed the sales dip to lower fuel and coal prices and lower volumes in its intermodal business which connects its shipping customers to railroads via other modes of transportation chief executive joe hinrichs in a statement said that intermodal business “remains challenged” however management said shipping volumes grew for coal and merchandise things like chemicals food crops and cars csx reported earnings as analysts point to weaker shipping demand among the nation’s railways a product of weaker consumer spending overall as inflation causes shoppers and businesses to retrench meanwhile labor tensions at west coast ports in the us and canada and the prospect of a strike at united parcel service inc ups have threatened the infrastructure that transports goods from ports warehouses and factories to stores and homes ahead of the results stifel analyst benjamin nolan said in a note on sunday that railcar volumes “have been going from bad to worse” but he said that rail stocks at least for the biggest players have held up as the market banks on a stronger second half of the year “futhermore the rails have universally been focused on improving service in order to grow the businesses” nolan said “service heuristics have gotten better but they always do in periods of lower freight however higher head counts of course come at a cost”