UP begins Canada-to-California CBR service

Union Pacific’s Can-Am Corridor linking western Canada with the western U.S. entered a new era on Nov. 24, 2014, when the first unit train of Canadian crude rolled across the international border at Eastport, Idaho, headed for a distribution terminal near Bakersfield, Calif. The 97 loaded tank cars, owned by Phillips 66, were powered by two locomotives on the head end, plus a single distributed power unit on the rear.

CP agrees to sell D&H line to Norfolk Southern

Canadian Pacific announced on Monday, Nov. 17, 2014 it would sell a line of roughly 200 miles, cutting across Pennsylvania and New York, to Norfolk Southern Corp. for $192.6 million.

Class I CEOs diverge on the merits of mergers

During third-quarter 2014 earnings presentations, two Class I CEOs with considerable experience in mega-mergers expressed opposing viewpoints on the merits of a final round of railroad mergers that would presumably create two gigantic east-west transcontinental carriers encompassing the U.S. and Canada.

Record 3Q for CP

Canadian Pacific Railway on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2014, announced record third-quarter net income of C$400 million (US$356.4 million), or C$2.31 (US$2.06) per diluted share, up from C$324 million or C$1.84 per diluted share, in the third quarter of 2013, an increase of 26% year-over-year.

CP + CSX: “No further talks are planned”

Breaking its relative silence, Canadian Pacific Railway announced Oct. 20, 2014 that it is no longer pursuing CSX as a merger partner. “Exploratory conversations held with CSX Corp. about a possible business combination have ended,” the railroad said in a statement. “No further talks are planned.”

STB asks CP to “clear ambiguities”

The Surface Transportation Board, in a decision dated Oct. 14, 2014 (Docket No. EP 724, “United States Rail Service Issues,” has asked Canadian Pacific Railway to “answer specific questions to clarify ambiguities related to CP’s efforts to resolve service problems and respond to fall peak demand.”

CSX posts record 3Q 2014 results

CSX posted record third-quarter 2014 net earnings of $509 million, or $0.51 per share, up from net earnings of $455 million, or $0.45 per share, in the same period last year. This performance was supported by volume increases of 7%, with broad-based growth across nearly all markets CSX serves.
Commentary

What lurks behind the door Hunter Harrison opened?

At age 70, when most of his contemporaries have retired, Canadian Pacific (CP) Chairman Hunter Harrison is plotting his legacy—a seamless North American transcontinental rail duopoly initiated by his proposed CP-CSX merger.

CSX rejects CP merger proposal

Canadian Pacific has approached CSX about a merger, and CSX has rejected the proposal, according to reports in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Toronto’s Globe & Mail, and other major media outlets. The reports attributed unnamed sources close to the railroads, not CP and CSX themselves. Unclear is whether CP will persist in attempting a merger deal.

Analyst: CP “on to another finish line with sweat and speed”

Canadian Pacific Railway, under the leadership of CEO E. Hunter Harrison, is “raising the bar, again,” according to Cowen & Co. Managing Director and Railway Age Wall Street Contributing Editor Jason Seidl, who attended CP’s 2014 investor day.
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