Founded 1968 | ||
Headquarters Denver, Colorado, United States | ||
Rio Grande Industries (RGI) was the diversified parent company, headquartered in Denver, of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. Formed in 1968, its non-railroad operations included construction, real estate, and energy units. In the early 1980s, after Philip Anschutz's Anschutz Corporation took RGI over and operated RGI as a subsidiary, they arranged a merger with the Southern Pacific Transportation Company, where new head Robert Krebs (of the SPTC's parent SPSF Corp.) had recently succeeded Benjamin Biaggini.
When the Interstate Commerce Commission denied permission to merge the respective companies' railroad subsidiaries as the Southern Pacific Santa Fe Railroad, the merged holding company, which retained both companies' non-rail interests, while selling the Southern Pacific to Rio Grande, RGI changed its name to Southern Pacific Rail Corporation.
Companies owned by RGI: