The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) analyzing Canadian Pacific Kansas City’s (CPKC) potential impacts on the environment was issued Aug. 5 by the Surface Transportation Board (STB); comments are due by Sept. 26, 2022.
Here’s something probably not too many rail industry people know: The migration path of the Monarch Butterfly, recently declared an endangered species, closely follows the alignment of the combined north-south Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern networks, which (pending merger approval by the Surface Transportation Board) will in early 2023 merge to form CPKC (Canadian Pacific Kansas City), North America’s first transnational freight railroad.
A perhaps little-known bit of railroad trivia is that, according to a reliable industry source, Illinois Senator and Majority Whip Dick Durbin held the late E. Hunter Harrison in extreme contempt (that’s a polite way of saying “hated”), and the feeling was mutual.
The document exceeds 4,300 pages: Canadian Pacific’s and Kansas City Southern’s Surface Transportation Board filing on their merger: “Applicants’ Response to Comments and Requests for Conditions, Opposition to Responsive Applications, and Rebuttal in Support of the Application.”
The Surface Transportation Board (STB) on July 1 accepted for consideration responsive applications by CN and Norfolk Southern (NS) regarding the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger, which is under STB review and seeks to create North America’s first transnational freight railroad, Canadian Pacific Kansas City, or CPKC.
Recently, three filings with the Surface Transportation Board in opposition to the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger application came across the transom that strike me as odd. One is from a California Congresswoman. The second (multiple letters, actually) is from a Chicago region group called The Coalition to Stop CPKC. The third—and strangest—is from three Federal Maritime Commissioners.
Bob Knief, President of Bartlett Grain Co., LP (Bartlett), a leading U.S. exporter of grain to Mexico, submitted a statement on June 22 to the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to address comments and applications filed on the Canadian Pacific (CP) and Kansas City Southern (KCS) merger transaction. Specifically, Bartlett is urging the STB to approve the CPKC (Canadian Pacific Kansas City) transaction and reject CN’s requesting that KCS’s Springfield Line be divested to it.
The first dedicated intermodal train between Lázaro Cárdenas and the U.S. Midwest arrived at Canadian Pacific’s (CP) Bensenville Yard in the Chicago area on March 8, reported CP, which worked with merger partner Kansas City Southern (KCS) on an interline basis for the move.
The Surface Transportation Board’s Office of Environmental Analysis (OEA) is moving forward with its assessment of Canadian Pacific Kansas City’s (CPKC) potential effects on the environment.
Railway Age’s 2022 Railroader of the Year Award, our 59th annual, goes to two exemplary and visionary North American rail industry leaders: Canadian Pacific President and Chief Executive Officer Keith Creel, and Kansas City Southern President and Chief Executive Officer Patrick J. Ottensmeyer. The two are reconfiguring the North American rail landscape by completing, if all goes as planned, what will be the first Class I merger in more than 20 years, and creating North America’s first transnational freight railroad, Canadian Pacific Kansas City, or CPKC.