Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd reported higher first quarter earnings on Tuesday as revenues jumped and the company significantly improved its operating efficiency. Canada's No. 2 railway shipped 642,000 carloads of freight in the quarter, up 4 percent from a year earlier. Shipments rose in most major categories, but crude oil carloads slipped 8 percent to 22,000 amid relatively weak oil prices. CP's operating ratio, a key efficiency measure, improved to 63.2 percent from 72.0 percent, beating rival Canadian National Railway Co's performance for the second consecutive quarter. The operating ratio expresses operating costs as a percentage of revenue, so lower numbers indicate better performance. On an annual basis, CP has lagged CN's operating ratio since 1996, but the gap between the railways has narrowed significantly since Chief Executive Hunter Harrison, who previously led CN, took over CP. Net income rose to C$320 million, or C$1.92 a share, from C$254 million, or C$1.44, a year earlier. Revenue rose 10 percent to C$1.67 billion. Excluding a restructuring charge and the impact of foreign exchange rates on U.S. dollar-denominated debt, earnings rose to C$375 million, or C$2.26 a share, from C$251 million, or C$1.42 a share. Analysts, on average, had been expecting earnings of C$2.17 a share on revenue of C$1.65 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.  (Reuters)