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Show RAIL SALE WILL BRING BENEFITS San Francisco, Cal. The Union Pacific Railroad, which now has a merger bid with the Rock Island before the Interstate Commerce Commission has agreed to sell the southern portion of the Rock Island to the Southern Pacific Company for $120 million, subject to ICC approval ap-proval of both the UP-Rock Island merger and the sale. As of June 30, 1965, the UP estimated the cost of acquiring the Rock Island at nearly $500 million, not taking into account the $120 million to be paid by the SP. This includes an exchange ex-change of one share of $1.80 convertible preferred UP stock for each Rock Island share and a contingent cash payment. It also includes the UP's taking over the Rock Island's debt of more than $150 million and a potential UP investment of $200 million in roadway improvement improve-ment and new equipment for the Rock Island. IMPROVEMENTS PLANNED B. F. Biaggini, SP president, has pledged that the SP will supply badly needed capital for strengthening the lines that the SP is acquiring. SP serves 12 southern and- western states, ranging from Oregon to Missouri. Mis-souri. Currently it is nearing the midway point in a record-breaking record-breaking $350 million program which is adding 14,700 new locomotives; freight cars, trucks and trailers over a three-year period. "There is no doubt," Mr. Biaggini Biag-gini said, "that the consolidation consolida-tion of Southern Pacific lines and the southern portion of the Rock Island will have a beneficial bene-ficial effect on every community served by these railroads. |