THE TROUBLED US-based Bangor & Aroostook Railroad System was sold to a railway management and investment consortium on October 4 for $62m. The group, which includes Ed Burkhardt’s Rail World Inc, reached agreement with Iron Road Railways to buy the network at the end of July. Other partners include The Wheeling Corp, headed by veteran railwayman Larry Parsons, which owns the 1100 km Wheeling & Lake Erie railroad in Ohio, and Jerry Davis, former president of Union Pacific and SP.
The B&A network includes the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad in Maine, Canadian American, Quebec Southern and Northern Vermont, plus Logistics Management Systems, the Van Buren Bridge Co, and the Newport & Richford Railroad, except for the section south of Newport, Vermont.
The sale has yet to be approved by the Surface Transportation Board, which is expected to rule in about 60 days. A possible complication is a demand by three creditors, that the railway be placed into receivership.
