Railroad operator Norfolk Southern Corporation forecasted disappointing first-quarter results. According to reports, the first-quarter earnings trailed estimates of analysts after coal carloads and fuel surcharges declined.

According to Association of American Railroads statistics, United States carriers posted no growth in carloads in the first quarter of the current year. On Monday, in late trading, Norfolk Southern dropped after announcing that preliminary earnings will drop by about 15% to $1 share from a year earlier. Estimates compiled by Bloomberg stated that analysts earlier predicted that the Virginia based Norfolk will earn approximately $1.26 a share.

Lee Klaskow, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst, said, "It's a pretty big miss. There will be an overhang until they begin to improve their execution".

Announcement from Norfolk Southern, which is the second-biggest railroad in the eastern United States, came about two weeks ahead of the company's full release on April 29. Kansas City Southern will report on April 21, while Union Pacific Corp, the largest U. S. railroad by sales, is set to report on April 23.

As per the Norfolk Southern, revenue was approximately $2.6 billion, a 5% decline from the year earlier. Before the announcement, analysts had predicted that revenue will be about $2.67 billion. On Monday, shares of the company fell about 4.7% to $99.90. The share slid after plunging about 5.6%. Norfolk Southern dropped more than 4% in 2015 through the close in New York while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained more than 1.5%.

According to reports, the drop in diesel prices could be blamed for railroads' revenue. The company took an outsized hit on the fees because it ties the company to West Texas Intermediate crude.

On April 29, Norfolk Southern is scheduled to report its first-quarter results.