"The coal markets have been traumatized with low natural gas prices and very mild weather," said BNSF CEO Matt Rose in an interview, according to Bloomberg News. "Coal is the one storm cloud that we're dealing with." He added that coal may not return to its 2006 peak until 2013 or 2014.

"Everything to do with drilling, horizontal drilling, frack sand, pipe, oil, it's phenomenal," Rose said. "We're seeing strong double-digit type growth in all those markets. What we're going to miss in our coal business, we're going to have to pick it up in our manufacturing business."