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Shipowners are asking the Union Pacific Railroad to improve the operation of a rail trestle situated in the Carquinez Straits. Crossing the straits is the only means of reaching the ports of Sacramento and Stockton which are large commodity outlets of agricultural products, and the bridge is held responsible for any danger to the vessels navigating through the straits. The usual complaints include the bridge tender's ignorance of the instructions received at the bridge. Other dangerous incidences which resulted from the bridge's failure to open were discussed.

The Federal Railroad Administration has put Union Pacific on notice that it wants to see "vast improvement" within six months to correct what the agency regards as "a fundamental breakdown […]

Problems of winter weather have caused delays in the transport of low-sulfur coal from the Powder River Basin of Montana and Wyoming. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad experienced some delays due to snow outages on the rail lines from the Powder River Basin fields through Billings, MT, then to Minnesota and Wisconsin. The affected line transports a big amount of coal. The Union Pacific Railroad, meanwhile, introduced a train length limit to prevent brake failures brought about by ice lines and to reduce the coal trains from 110 or more to 80 cars.