Changes in Operations (Tables)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

Changes in Operations [Abstract]

Schedule of Business Acquisitions, by Acquisition [Table Text Block]

United States

Hilton & Albany Railroad, Inc.: In November 2011, the Company's newly formed subsidiary, the Hilton & Albany Railroad, Inc. (HAL), signed an agreement with Norfolk Southern Railway Company (NS) to lease and operate a 56-mile segment of NS track that runs from Hilton, Georgia to Albany, Georgia. Operations commenced on January 1, 2012. The HAL handles primarily overhead traffic between NS and the Company's following railroads: The Bay Line Railroad, L.L.C.; Chattahoochee Bay Railroad, Inc.; Chattahoochee Industrial Railroad; and Georgia Southwestern Railroad, Inc. In addition, the HAL serves several local agricultural and aggregate customers in southwest Georgia. The results from HAL’s operations have been included in the Company’s statement of operations since January 1, 2012 and are included in the Company’s North American & European Operations segment.

Arizona Eastern Railway Company: On September 1, 2011, the Company acquired all of the capital stock of Arizona Eastern Railway Company (AZER). The Company paid the seller $89.5 million in cash at closing, which included a reduction to the purchase price of $0.6 million for the estimated working capital adjustment. Based on the final working capital adjustment, the Company recorded an additional $0.8 million of purchase price in December 2011, which was paid to the seller in January 2012. The Company incurred $0.6 million of acquisition costs related to this transaction through December 31, 2011, which were expensed as incurred. The results from AZER’s operations have been included in the Company’s statement of operations since September 1, 2011 and are included in the Company’s North American & European Operations segment.

Headquartered near Miami, Arizona, with 43 employees and 10 locomotives, AZER owns and operates two rail lines totaling approximately 200 track miles in southeast Arizona and southwest New Mexico that are connected by 52 miles of trackage rights over the Union Pacific Railroad. The largest customer on AZER is Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (Freeport-McMoRan). AZER provides rail service to Freeport-McMoRan’s largest North American copper mine and its North American smelter, hauling copper concentrate, copper anode, copper rod and sulfuric acid. In conjunction with the transaction, AZER and Freeport-McMoRan entered into a long-term transportation agreement.