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In December, Union Pacific Railroad loaded 958 coal trains in the southern Powder River Basin (SPRB) compared with 1,118 trains in December 2008.

The Class I registered 160 missed SPRB loading opportunities, 83 of which were attributable to utility plants, 47 to UP, 30 to mines and 24 to adverse weather conditions. However, missed loadings were partially offset by 95 extra loadings, UP said in a weekly coal loading performance report.

In the Colorado/Utah region, the railroad last month loaded 239 coal trains vs. 244 in December 2008.

For all of 2009, UP loaded enough trains to meet 100.9 percent of National Coal Transportation Association (NCTA) demand in the SPRB and 103.6 percent of NCTA demand in the Colorado/Utah region, according to the report.