Patriot Rail operates 12 regional and short line railways covering more than 950km across 14 US states. The company, which is based in Jacksonville, Florida, also operates the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway in Georgia and offers wagon storage and maintenance services, warehousing and transloading and contract shunting services.
Patriot Rail also provides track and signalling inspection and maintenance services through its Global Rail subsidiary.
The terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed, although Bloomberg reports the value of the transaction is more than $US 750m, quoting people familiar with the matter.
The company has been part of the SteelRiver portfolio since June 2012.
The sale comes less than two months after another major US short line and regional railway operator, Genesee & Wyoming, was sold for $US 8.4bn.
