Ties Weekly Update #9

10 June, 2004

CONTINUING GREAT PRODUCTION

As of the 10^th of June, we have installed over 90,000 of the 182,000 ties scheduled to be installed by November 24^th 2004. All crews, both contractor and company are doing an excellent job and are ahead of schedule.

¨ As of the 10^th of June, 160,000 ties have been delivered. Because of the shortage of gondolas we now expect the delivery of ties to be completed by the end of July.

¨ Wes Risseeuw’s DM&E east tie gang has completed tie installation between Lake Preston and De Smet and after ballasting and surfacing; this section of track will be raised to 30 MPH. We expect this to be complete by the end of June. This crew will now make the first pass tie installation from Volga to Lake Preston and then will help with siding construction projects.

¨ The LA Colo tie gang has started at MP 180 and will continue toward Garvin with an expected completion date of June 25^th. They are currently at MP 200 near Sanborn.

¨ Foreman Steve Koser’s crew is now installing ties in the Calmar area. He expects to complete early the week of the 14^th and then will install another 6,000 ties west of Mason City prior to installing curve rail east of Mason City. We expect the tie installation to be completed by mid July.

¨ Jim Nemec’s west tie gang continues to improve on their production numbers and will be installing ties just south of Rapid City for the next several weeks. Average weekly production for this crew of new hires is nearly 1000 per week.