SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD CALCULATES RAIL INDUSTRY'S COST OF CAPITAL FOR 2009

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>From the Surface Transportation Board, Washington, D.C.
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The Surface Transportation Board announced today that it has issued its
decision calculating the railroad industry's cost of capital for 2009.


                                         In Railroad Cost of Capital--2009,
                                         STB Ex Parte No. 558 (Sub-No.
                                         13)( http://www.stb.dot.gov/decisions/readingroom.nsf/WebDecisionID/40788?OpenDocument )

                                         , the Board found that the rail
                                         industry's after-tax cost of
                                         capital was 10.43 percent. Last
                                         year, the cost-of-capital was
                                         11.75 percent.


                                         The Board uses the cost of capital
                                         figure in evaluating the adequacy
                                         of individual railroads' revenues
                                         each year. It also uses the figure
                                         when determining the
                                         reasonableness of a challenged
                                         rail rate, considering a proposal
                                         to abandon a rail line or valuing
                                         a particular railroad operation.


                                         This year, consistent with the
                                         Board's decision in STB Ex Parte
                                         No. 664, Sub-No 1 (STB served Jan.
                                         28, 2009), the Board estimated the
                                         cost of equity component of the
                                         cost of capital using an average
                                         of a Capital Asset Pricing Model
                                         (CAPM) approach and a multi-stage
                                         Discounted Cash Flow (MS-DCF)
                                         model.


                                         The Board's decision in STB Ex
                                         Parte No. 558 (Sub-No. 13) is
                                         available at www.stb.dot.gov.


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