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Today, RailAmerica Inc. announced it will acquire four short lines from aluminum manufacturer Alcoa Inc. for $77.5 million. The short-line holding company plans to fund most of the purchase through a $75 million increase in the term loan portion of its senior secured credit facility.

RailAmerica will acquire the 13-mile Point Comfort & Northern Railway Co., which serves Alcoa’s bauxite, alumina and chemical facility in Point Comfort, Texas; the six-mile Rockdale, Sandow & Southern Railroad Co., which is based in Sandow, Texas, and serves Alcoa’s aluminum manufacturing facility in Rockdale, Texas; the three-mile Massena Terminal Railroad Co., which serves Alcoa’s aluminum manufacturing facility in Massena, Texas; and the three-mile Bauxite & Northern Railway Co., which serves a specialty chemicals facility in Bauxite, Ark.

RailAmerica and Alcoa currently are negotiating terms of the agreement and expect to close the transaction on Sept. 30. The companies plan to enter into a long-term service agreement under which RailAmerica will continue to serve Alcoa’s facilities.

In addition, RailAmerica announced it has entered into a 25-year lease agreement with CSX Transportation to operate the 48-mile Fremont branch between Fremont and West Olive, Mich. The line interchanges with RailAmerica’s Michigan Shore Railroad and CSXT. RailAmerica will begin operating the line tomorrow.