Rail Weekly Update #18

12 August 2004

DM&E CWR COMPLETED…IC&E CWR PROGRAM UNDERWAY

As of August 12^th, we had installed just over 77 of the roughly 97 track miles to be completed by November 19^th. It appears we will meet or beat that schedule. The LA Colo crew began installing CWR on the IC&E near Calmar, Iowa this week and will expect to complete that 15 track miles by early September. The IC&E CWR crew also began installing about 9 track miles of CWR on curves across the entire IC&E system this week and will install rail through the end of the year.

¨ All tie, crossing, and bridge work is completed on the first stretch of CWR between Sleepy Eye and Springfield. Kent Maxon’s surfacing crew will be putting the final pass of surfacing on this section in preparation for raising the speed here to 40 MPH.

¨ All tie work has been completed on the second stretch of CWR between Volga and Lake Preston and ballast is being dumped in preparation for final surfacing which will commence by the middle of next week. After final surfacing by Earl Ruchdashal’s surfacing crew, this section of track will also be raised to 40 MPH.

¨ Work will continue on crossings on the last section of CWR between Garvin and Verdi over the next several weeks. Along with that there will be several cranes in the area cleaning up scrap rail and OTM as well as the salvageable material.

¨ The last remaining rail train for this year’s projects (80,000 feet) is scheduled to be here by the second week of August. The curve train of nearly 70,000 feet of premium rail was unloaded recently.