The SJ&GI became an essential part of UP's system, providing a connection from the transcontinental mainline to the eastern Kansas area, and UP undertook several steps to improve it.
In 1914 a connection was made between the UP mainline at Gibbon and Hastings, providing a more direct route than through Grand Island.
Today, the portion of the SJ&GI between Hastings and Marysville remains a core part of the UP mainline, seeing dozens of trains per day.
A short stub exists at Grand Island to serve a nearby power plant.
This has resulted in a string of towns in Nebraska being situated in alphabetical order, starting with Alexandria in the east and ending with Newark in the west.