RailAmerica Announces Senior Leadership Appointments and Promotions.

Business Editors

BOCA RATON, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 28, 2000

RailAmerica, Inc. (Nasdaq:RAIL) Chairman, President and CEO Gary O. Marino today announced several key leadership appointments and promotions at the Company. They include:

-- Mark A. Phariss has been named Vice President and General Counsel;

-- Julie B. Herbort has been promoted to Vice President, Chief Financial
Officer & Director of Administration - North American Rail Group;

-- Jack F. Conser has been named Senior Vice President Transportation;

-- Robert Parker has been promoted to Senior Vice President, North Corridor -
North American Rail Group;

-- Joe Conklin has been named to Senior Vice President, South Corridor - North
American Rail Group;

-- Wayne A. August has been promoted to Assistant Vice President Investor
Relations;

-- J. Preston Claytor has been named Assistant Vice President Safety &
Training;

-- Mark Jacobowitz has been promoted to Assistant Vice President Tax.

Mr. Phariss, who joined RailAmerica in February 2000, was formerly the Vice President & Associate General Counsel at RailTex, Inc. He has over 15 years of corporate and securities law experience, including one year at RailTex and 14 years as a shareholder and associate at the law firm of Matthews & Branscomb in San Antonio, Texas. Mr. Phariss has a J.D. from Vanderbilt Law School and a B.A. degree from Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri.

Ms. Herbort joined RailAmerica in February 2000 as Vice President & Controller - North American Rail Group. She was formerly Vice President and Controller at RailTex, Inc., where she had been employed for over eight years. Prior to RailTex, Ms. Herbort was employed by Arthur Andersen LLP. She is a graduate of the University of Texas at San Antonio, where she received her B.B.A. degree in Accounting.

Mr. Conser has been with RailAmerica since 1992 and has more than 39 years' experience in the railroad business. From 1985 to 1992, Mr. Conser was General Manager of the Genesee & Wyoming Railroad, the Rochester & Southern Railroad, the Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad, and the Dansville & Mt. Morris Railroad, affiliates of Genesee & Wyoming Industries. From 1973 to 1985, he was superintendent of traffic for the Providence & Worcester Railroad. Prior to 1973, he was affiliated with the New York Central Railroad, Penn Central Transportation Company and the Reading Railroad.

Mr. Parker is responsible for the management and operations of RailAmerica's railroads on the northern corridor of its North American rail system. Prior to joining RailAmerica in 1995, he served as Trainmaster for the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad, a Class I railroad. He has also held various management positions with RailAmerica's Huron & Eastern Railway, Saginaw Valley Railway, Delaware Valley Railway and Gettysburg Railway. Mr. Parker holds a B.S. degree in Business/Finance from Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

Responsible for the management and operations of RailAmerica's railroads on the southern corridor of its North American rail system, Mr. Conklin joined RailAmerica in February 2000 after serving as Vice President, Field Operations for RailTex since August of 1999. He was employed by Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) and its predecessor railroads for 23 years. He began his railroad career in 1976 in the engineering department at Gillette, Wyoming and has held a variety of positions with BNSF, including Terminal Superintendent, Division Superintendent and General Superintendent of Transportation.

Mr. August, who joined RailAmerica in 1997 from CSX Corporation, leads the company's investor relations and corporate communications efforts. Prior to his promotion, he was Director of Investor Relations and Financial Planning. Mr. August holds a B.S. degree in Engineering from the University of Florida and an M.B.A. in finance from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.

Mr. Claytor joined RailAmerica in 1997 with over 15 years of railroad experience with Class I carrier CSX Transportation. He has held numerous rail operating positions, including road foreman and trainmaster. Immediately prior to joining RailAmerica, he was Superintendent of the White Pass & Yukon Route railroad in Alaska, where he was responsible for supervising the operating, mechanical and maintenance of way departments. Mr. Claytor holds a B.S. degree in Business Administration from The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina.

Mr. Jacobowitz joined RailAmerica as its Tax Manager in 1997. Prior to joining RailAmerica, he spent four years with Arvida/JMB Partners in Boca Raton, Florida, as a Senior Tax Accountant. Prior to that, he spent four years with Price Waterhouse in its West Palm Beach, Florida-based office. Mr. Jacobowitz, who is a C.P.A., obtained both his M.S. (Tax) and B.S. (Accounting) degrees from the University of Florida.

In announcing the appointments and promotions, Gary O. Marino, Chairman, President and CEO of RailAmerica, said, "With the significant number of acquisitions recently completed, especially our acquisition of RailTex earlier this year, RailAmerica has more than tripled its number of employees worldwide to over 2,600. Along with that growth we have added outstanding depth to a management team that has the skills necessary to lead the Company in meeting its strategic goals. In addition, the quality and experience of this combined team assures us of maintaining the leadership position in the global short line and regional railroad industry."

RailAmerica, Inc. (www.railamerica.com), the world's largest short line and regional railroad operator, owns or has equity interests in 50 short line and regional railroads operating more than 12,400 route miles in the United States, Canada, Australia and the Republic of Chile. The Company also owns Kalyn/Siebert, L.P. and Kalyn/Siebert, Canada, Inc., specialty truck trailer manufacturers with production facilities in Gatesville, Texas and Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Canada.

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding future events and the performance of RailAmerica that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially including, but not limited to, failure to achieve expected synergies, failure to successfully integrate operations, failure to service debt, failure to successfully market and sell the non-core properties and asset, economic conditions, customer demand, increased competition in the relevant market, and others. We refer you to the documents that RailAmerica files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, such as the Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and Form 8-K, which contain additional important factors that could cause its actual results to differ from its current expectations and from the forward-looking statements contained in this press release.