BOCA RATON — RailAmerica, Inc., the world’s largest operator of short line and regional railroads, announced that its Indiana Southern Railroad, Inc. has commenced shipments under a new transportation agreement entered into with Black Beauty Coal Company that enables ISRR to better serve customers in the southwest Indiana region. The agreement is expected to result in over 1 million tons of coal being moved in the first year, or approximately 11,000 carloads. The contract calls for the movement of a minimum of 750,000 tons of coal per year, or approximately 8,000 carloads, through 2006. Prior to this agreement, the coal was moved by truck.
ISSR, based in Petersburg, Indiana, operates 176 miles of track in central and southwestern Indiana and moves approximately 45,000 carloads of freight
annually.
Gary O. Marino, Chairman, President & CEO of RailAmerica, said, “This strategic agreement is another example of RailAmerica’s commitment to providing superior short line rail service to its customers through innovative, truck-competitive solutions. In addition, this new access allows the ISRR to grow its ‘same railroad’ carload business while positioning the ISSR to attract new business to its rail line in the future.”
RailAmerica, Inc. (www.railamerica.com), the world’s largest short line and regional railroad operator, owns 39 short line and regional railroads operating approximately 11,000 route miles in the United States, Canada, Australia and Chile. In North America, the Company’s railroads operate in 22 states and six Canadian provinces. Internationally, the Company operates an additional 4,300 route miles under track access arrangements in Australia and Argentina. In October 2001, RailAmerica was ranked 85th on Forbes magazine’s list of the 200 Best Small Companies in America; in July 2001, the Company was named to the Russell 2000® Index.