Sidings Weekly Update #12

1 July 2004

Great strides being made on Siding Projects

As of July 1^st, we have put 2 of the 6 sidings now planned for 2004 into service, Tracy and Sanborn.

1.) The Cobden siding track work has now started!!! Track work is now about 20% toward completion!!

¨ The west switch was installed on June 23^rd by New Ulm section and surfaced by Kent Maxon’s surfacing crew the next day.

¨ Track construction started on June 28^th with over 2000 ties being laid out on the grade already and over 1000 track feet of rail laid on the ties.

¨ Darrin Legare from New Ulm is heading up the rail laying on this project with the help of 5 other employees from Wes Risseeuw’s tie gang and boom truck operator Ted Arndt.

¨ This siding is expected to be a total of 10,000 feet, if we can get the wetlands issue settled on the east end of the project area. If we have not reached a satisfactory resolution to the wetlands issue within the next few weeks, we will shorten the siding length to around 8000 track feet to get this siding into service prior to the grain rush.

2.) The Tracy siding was put into service on Thursday the 6^th of May and continues to perform up to the transportation department’s expectations.

¨ To complete the project, we expect to install the crossovers late July or more likely in August, but the new pass is usable without the crossovers being installed and has been used extensively to meet trains.

3.) The negotiations on the Florence siding continue to move forward and we expect a final agreement very soon. We still expect to receive an agreement soon enough to complete this project during this work season.

4.) The De Smet Siding extension was approved in late May. This project will extend the siding nearly 4,000’ westward from the current west switch location.

· The contractor selected to do the dirt work is Loiseau of Flandreau South Dakota.

· The switch has been delivered to the site this past week and will be assembled in the near future.

· Switch installation and track construction are scheduled to begin shortly after the completion of the dirt work.

· Rail and OTM have been recovered from the Arlington CWR project and were delivered to the site during the past week.

5.) The Elkton Siding will be extended over 4,000’ to the east. This will help with congestion and will enable the meeting of longer trains.

· Dirt work has been completed for some time awaiting the track construction.

· A new switch for the east end has been delivered to the site and will be assembled and installed within the next couple weeks.

· Ties have been received and will be unloaded on site within the next several days.

· Rail and OTM that has been recovered from the Volga/Lake Preston and the Tyler projects will be delivered and stored on site ready for the construction.

• Best estimate now for being in service is mid to late August.

6.) The Sanborn Siding project involved renewing over ½ the ties in the current siding and elevator tracks and changing the rail as well as adding ballast and surfacing to remove restrictions that allowed only empty cars and four-axle locomotives to use these tracks. The track was put into service on June 23^rd!!

· Ties were installed the week of the 14^th of June.

· Rail was changed and anchors installed the week of June 21^st.

· Ballast will be unloaded and surfacing will be completed within the next couple weeks.