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A rail investment and management consortium led by Rail World Inc. and Wheeling Corp. Oct. 8 announced the group has entered into a letter of intent to purchase Bangor & Aroostook Railroad System (B&A) properties for $62 million from Iron Road Railways.
The sale would include the operating assets of 420-mile Bangor & Aroostook Railroad Co., 294-mile Canadian American Railroad Co., Van Buren Bridge Co., Logistics Management Systems and 86-mile Northern Vermont Railroad Co. Inc. (except for a section south of Newport, Vt.), as well as stock in 186-mile Quebec Southern Railway Co. Ltd.
B&A President Frederic Yocum in late July stated the sale would enable his company to address recent cash flow problems and a heavy debt load.
The consortium includes several independent investors, including Jerry Davis, former Union Pacific and Southern Pacific Railroad president, and CSX Transportation executive vice president; Larry Parsons, chairman and chief executive officer of Wheeling Corp.'s 680-mile Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway Co.; and Joseph Gonzales.
"We look forward to working very closely with Fred Yocum and his team in continuing to serve the needs of their customers during this transition," said Rail World President and CEO Edward Burkhardt in a prepared statement, adding that the consortium plans to close the transaction by year-end (pending Surface Transportation Board approval).