I might add that the aluminum cars, which perhaps technically have a longer life, have become obsolete for two reasons. They're a smaller-capacity car, and there are some maintenance issues that are not being addressed. They'll either have to be scrapped or some fairly major investments will have to be made. So there's even more of an urgency on the aluminum fleet than on the first set of steel cars, which must be addressed in 2011.
On the need, I think there are two components we need to be aware of. One is the technical life of a car. By Association of American Railroads rules, it's 40 years for some of the cars and 50 years for the others, but there's the actual obsolescence issue that needs to be addressed.
All of these cars weigh 263,000 pounds, which is no longer the modern capacity. A study was recently done looking at this very question, and 37% of the American fleet in 2003 had been upgraded to the higher fleet. Union Pacific expects that by 2010, 60% of their fleet will be at the new weight, and with BNSF it's about 50%. So there's a competitive advantage of perhaps 10%.
Mr. Ray Foot, the assistant vice-president of grain for CP, previously suggested that they could haul 25% more with some of the modern cars. So there's a competitiveness issue that has to be addressed, as opposed to just the technical life of the cars.
When we address need, one is the life of the car per se, as identified in the rules, but a very important one from the standpoint of farmers is to get a modern fleet that will keep us competitive.