Ties Monthly Update #1

7, February 2007

OVER 180,000 TIES TO BE INSTALLED IN 2007 CAPITAL PROJECTS. ELEVEN MAJOR PROJECTS PLUS SEVERAL MINOR ONES WILL HIGHLITE THE PRODUCTION YEAR!

Tie crews on the two properties will again have another banner year installing more than 180,000 main line and yard track ties. More details of all tie projects scheduled for 2007 are below

¨ The DM&E tie gang will start its year on April 2^nd on the Black Hill’s sub north of Rapid City heading southward. This crew will combine the first three project areas to install nearly 25,000 ties on the Upper Black Hills, Lower Black Hills and the Rapid City yard.

¨ The second project for the DM&E tie crew will be one of approximately 20,000 ties between Midland, SD and east of Pierre, SD.

¨ When the Midland/Pierre ties are installed the DM&E tie crew will split up for a couple weeks to install 3,000 ties in both the Huron, SD and the Waseca, MN yards.

¨ Once these yard ties are installed, the DM&E tie crew will head for the IC&E where they will install 12,000 ties on the Jackson sub, and 23,000 ties on the Mason City sub, 13,000 east of Mason and 10,000 west of Mason. These projects should finish out the year for this crew.

¨ The IC&E tie crew will start their year also on April 2^nd on the Marquette sub between Dubuque and Guttenberg, IA where they will install approximately 20,000 ties.

¨ From the Marquette sub, the IC&E crew is scheduled to do two small projects, one at Green Island, IA and one in Nahant yard in Davenport, IA before they go to the Kansas City sub for their last two projects.

¨ The first Kansas City sub project for the IC&E crew is one of 12,000 ties between Nahant yard and Montpelier, IA.

¨ From there the IC&E crew will complete their 2007 tie installation year by installing 22,000 ties between Chillicothe and Polo, MO. The IC&E tie crew is scheduled to complete all of their tie installation by early August and then will install curve rail for the remainder of the 2007 production year.