Subject to approval thereof by the Arkansas Department of Transportation under such rules for procedure as it may establish and a determination that action will be in the public interest, any railroad corporation existing under the laws of any other state or territory may buy, lease, or otherwise acquire any railroad, the whole or part of which is in this state, with all the rights, privileges, and franchises thereto pertaining, or buy the stock and bonds, or guarantee the bonds of any railroad corporation incorporated or organized under the laws of this state whenever the roads of such companies shall form in the operation thereof a continuous line or lines. However, the road so purchased shall not be parallel or competing with the purchasing road.