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After serving as a partial owner of Iowa Interstate Railroad Ltd. (IAIS) for more than 12 years, Railroad Development Corp. (RDC) currently owns the 552-mile regional lock, stock and barrel.

RDC recently purchased IAIS — now a wholly owned RDC subsidiary — and the assets of former partner Heartland Rail Corp. Since 1991, RDC and Heartland Rail jointly owned the regional, with IAIS operating on Bureau, Ill.-to-Council Bluffs, Iowa, track owned by Heartland Rail.

In 1984, RDC, a group of shippers and the state of Iowa helped form Heartland Rail to purchase the former Rock Island Railroad's mainline; at the same time, the partners formed IAIS to operate the line.

"The IAIS management team has done an outstanding job over the years in bringing the railroad from a startup operation to the solid company it is today," said RDC President Robert Pietrandrea in a prepared statement. "Under RDC's ownership, this same team will continue to guide the railroad."

A privately held railway management and investment company, RDC is part of several joint ventures that own and operate railroads in the United States, Argentina, Guatemala, Peru, Estonia and Malawi.