News Release

RailAmerica Acquires Alabama Rail Line from BNSF

FORT WORTH, Texas, June 02, 2003:

RailAmerica, Inc. (NYSE: RRA) and the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company (BNSF) today announced that BNSF has sold/leased 288 miles of contiguous rail line in and around Mobile, Alabama to RailAmerica's wholly owned subsidiary, Alabama & Gulf Coast Railway (AGR), for approximately $15 million in cash. AGR commenced rail service on this line June 1, 2003.

The 288 miles of track runs from Amory, Mississippi to Mobile, Alabama and connects directly with AGR at Kimbrough, Alabama. As a result of this connection, RailAmerica expects to realize significant synergies and cost savings, as AGR now provides direct access to the Port of Mobile for large paper product manufacturers and other customers in the region. AGR anticipates hauling approximately 23,000 additional carloads and generating approximately $12 million in new operating revenue on this line in its first full year of operation. Major shippers on the line include Gulf States Paper Corporation, EKA Chemical, Kerr-McGee Chemical, Weyerhaeuser and the Port of Mobile.

Including this acquisition, AGR now operates 429 miles of rail line and expects to move approximately 58,000 carloads annually. Principal commodities include paper, pulp and paper products, chemicals and grain. AGR interchanges with five Class I carriers at various locations, including BNSF at both Amory and Columbus, Mississippi. AGR also gains new interchanges with fellow short line operators Meridian & Bigbee Railroad, Golden Triangle Railroad, Columbus & Greenville Railroad, Luxapalilla Valley Railroad and Terminal Alabama State Docks Railroad. RailAmerica acquired AGR in January 2002 when it acquired StatesRail.

"This line acquisition is consistent with our strategic approach in North America to build geographic clusters of operations to achieve operating and marketing efficiencies and to grow the existing customer base," said Gary O. Marino, RailAmerica's Chairman, President & CEO. "Through its ability to offer shippers single line service to the Port of Mobile, AGR should be able to substantially expand its business base and increase carloads. In addition, this investment should afford our shareholders a significant return on investment and generate substantial free cash flow from operations. Our management team at AGR is truly excited by the reception received to date from new customers and has already identified several new growth opportunities."

"Through our agreement with RailAmerica, BNSF will continue to have the access needed to participate in future economic growth opportunities in south Alabama, Mobile, and the Port of Mobile," said Matthew K. Rose, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation. "Short line operators provide valuable and efficient service that supports our growth strategy. They feed us traffic through service offerings closely tailored to the needs of our shippers located on their lines. We have found RailAmerica to be innovative, nimble and responsive service providers and we look forward to working with them to maximize the value of this line to our customers and to BNSF."

RailAmerica, Inc. (NYSE: RRA) is the world's largest short line and regional railroad operator with 49 railroads operating approximately 12,900 miles in the United States, Canada, Australia and Chile. In Australia and Argentina, an additional 4,300 miles are operated under track access arrangements. The Company is a member of the Russell 2000 Index. Its website may be found at www.railamerica.com.

A subsidiary of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (NYSE:BNI), BNSF operates one of the largest railroad networks in North America, with 32,500 route miles covering 28 states and two Canadian provinces. BNSF is an industry leader in Web-enabling a variety of customer transactions at www.bnsf.com. The railway is among the world's top transporters of intermodal traffic, moves more grain than any other American railroad, transports the components of many of the products we depend on daily, and hauls enough coal to generate about 10 percent of the electricity produced in the United States.

BNSF Headquarters
BNSF Railway Company
2650 Lou Menk Dr. 2nd Floor
P.O. Box 961057
Fort Worth, TX 76161-0057
Phone: (817) 352-1000