Saturday, November 21, 1998

South Orient working to reach agreement to sell rail line

SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) -- South Orient Railroad Co. is negotiating a deal to sell part of a 500-mile rail line that has been on the market for about two years.

Joel T. Williams III, president of South Orient, told the San Angelo Standard-Times on Thursday that the company is in talks with Fort Worth & Western Railroad Co.

Williams said that Fort Worth & Western is interested in buying the northern part of the line, known as the Dublin Line. The segment runs from Fort Worth to Brownwood.

No sale price has been disclosed.

Williams told the newspaper he expects talks to close within the next day or two. He was not available for comment on Friday.

Bob Robertson, chief executive officer, and Jim Martin, president of Fort Worth & Western, also were unavailable for comment.

Even if it is successful in selling the Dublin Line, South Orient still has the other part of the line from San Angelo to Presidio on its hands.

"The northern part has always had a lot of business," Williams said. "It has been helping us cover our losses from the southern part of the line."

Williams said that the south part of the line has not attracted volume shipping to and from Mexico. Earlier this year, South Orient filed a notice of intent to abandon the tracks.

"It's the shortest, fastest and most direct route and cheap service between Chihuahua City -- the transportation hub for the northern part of Mexico -- and Fort Worth, a major U.S. rail hub," Williams said. "You tell me why it was so difficult for people to use? We had to file for abandonment because no one used it."

Williams reiterated that the intention was never to abandon, but but

Williams reiterated that the intention was never to abandon, butthat approval would have given the line between San Angelo and Presidio collateral value.

Williams said it probably will be harder to sell the fragmented line. "But we are going to work seriously on it because the current owners have an interest to sell," he said.