RailAmerica Inc, located in Boca Raton, recently announced that it will be doing away with 95 Florida jobs effective June 1st. According to Scott Williams, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, the company, which is a short line and regional rail service provider, is reducing it’s staff as a result of a planned merger with Florida East Coast Industries Inc, which is owned by the same parent company as RailAmerica.

The merger will cause the company to relocate it’s Boca Raton operations further north to Jacksonville. This news comes at a time when the Southern Florida job market is already struggling with losses. At this time the city has an unemployment rate of 4.8 percent, up from 4.6 in December. A year ago in January the jobless rate was 3.9 percent. The Florida Agency for Workforce Innovations estimates that 6,200 Florida jobs were lost since December between West Palm Beach and Boca Raton. Approximately 20 to 30 employees are expected to relocate to Jacksonville with the company.

In February 2007, the private equity firm Fortress Investment Group LLC, which is based in New York purchased RailAmerica for $1.1billion. RailAmerica currently operates 41 railroads totaling about 7,800 miles throughout North America.

Also planning changes in Boca Raton is the LexisNexis risk management group. The company plans to remain a presence in the area, but has plans for consolidating ChoicePoint Inc.’s data center with it’s own operations. According to Chief Executive Jim Peck, there will be some Florida jobs done away with, but it is too early to tell whether or not they will take place at the Boca Raton site.

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