RailAmerica’s profits slide 16%

RailAmericaÆs profits slide 16%    RailAmerica, a holding company for 42 short-line railroads operating on about 7,800 track miles in the United States and Canada, posted second quarter net income of $7.8 million, down 16 percent compared to $9.3 million in the same quarter 2005.
   The Boca Raton, Fla.-based railroad reported operating income for the quarter of $9.2 million, a drop of 37 percent from $14.5 million in the year earlier period. Revenue jumped 13 percent to $116.8 million, from $103.4 million.
   RailAmerica's total carloads for the quarter were flat at 310,711 from 312,854 a year ago.
   'Our financial results in the second quarter were impacted by several isolated factors, including a work stoppage at a paper facility in Nova Scotia, the Native Indian blockade in Southern Ontario, costs related to our reorganization, an accrual for a final contingent obligation to our former CEO and the costs of disposing of industrial waste in a Canadian landfill from a derailment in Alabama,' said Michael Howe, RailAmerica’s chief financial officer.