(The following story by Gillian Wee appeared on the Miami Herald website on June 11.)
MIAMI — Two months after its longtime chief executive resigned, RailAmerica named a former federal transportation official as his successor.
Charles Swinburn, who has been a RailAmerica board member for nine years, managed rail deregulation efforts and oversaw Amtrak’s budget while working in the U.S. Transportation Department starting in the 1970s. During that time, he managed the bureau’s efforts to resolve the Northeast rail crisis and oversaw $2 billion in aid programs to the industry.
As a Marine in Vietnam, he flew more than 700 combat missions and won the Distinguished Flying Cross twice, and the Air Medal 35 times. Since 1993, he has been an attorney with the law firm of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in Washington, D.C.
`FRESH PERSPECTIVE’
”Charlie will bring a fresh perspective to the company,” said Donald Redfearn, who was promoted to president from chief administrative officer. “He has a good political sense. He’ll be able to bring a different aspect to the company than we did.”
In April, Gary O. Marino, RailAmerica’s previous chairman, quit his CEO and president posts after nearly two decades with the company, after he was stripped of his chairmanship. Many companies have split the chairman and CEO duties, attributed to corporate governance movements sweeping across boardrooms all over the nation.
Boca Raton-based RailAmerica claims to be the world’s largest short-line and regional rail service company, with 47 railroads hauling grain, coal and other commodities across portions of the United States, Canada and Australia. Over the years, the company, which has $1.2 billion in assets and 2,500 employees, relied on debt to buy other railroads.
SCALING BACK
After hitting a debt-to-capitalization ratio of 81 percent by March 2000, the company cut back. Its plan is to focus on North America and it is in talks with Pacific National, a New South Wales-based rail company, to sell its Victoria-based Australian freight unit. This will help the company achieve its target rate of 50 percent, Redfearn said.
Shares of RailAmerica rose 6 cents to $13.49 at Thursday’s close.