The company said it loaded 949 coal trains in the southern PRB last month, notably lower than last September’s total of 1106.

While somewhat offset by 88 extra loadings, UP said 100 SPRB loading opportunities were missed during the month. Ten stemmed from mine issues and another 53 were attributable to utility plants.

Another 37 missed were due to a September 20 derailment of a BNSF train on a joint line between Shawnee Junction and Bill, Wyoming. Loadings were slowed for about one day and all three mains tracks were blocked by the incident in which 33 cars left the tracks.

In the Colorado/Utah region, 255 Class I coal trains were loaded versus 302 in September 2008. UP cited lower plant demand and coal production issues in the region for the continued slump.

UP loaded 99% of National Coal Transportation Association demands for the SPRB region last month and met 100% of the association’s demand in Colorado/Utah.

According to UP's statistics, weekly carloads and intermodal traffic for the third quarter to date totaled 554,736, a 14% year-on-year jump from 476,766 in 2008. Year-to-date carloads were also up 14%, from 1.45 million to 1.68 million.