CN Rail earnings up on higher volumes

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian National Railway Co reported higher third-quarter earnings on Tuesday as revenue jumped on higher freight volumes. The biggest Canadian railroad moved 1.5 million carloads of freight in the quarter to Sept. 30, up 11 percent from a year earlier. The company's operating ratio, a key measure of efficiency, improved one percentage point from a year earlier, to 58.8 percent. The ratio expresses operating expenses as a percentage of revenue, so lower numbers indicate better results. Net income rose to C$853 million ($760 million), or C$1.04 a share, from C$705 million, or C$0.84 a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 16 percent to C$3.12 billion. Analysts had been expecting earnings of C$1.05 a share on revenue of C$3.14 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. (Corrects operating ratio improvement to one percentage point, not basis point, in third paragraph) (Reporting by Allison Martell; editing by Chris Reese and David Gregorio)