The Surface Transportation Board On Dec. 20 issued a decision granting approval for exemptions sought by Watco Holdings, Inc., and two of its subsidiaries in the acquisition of approximately 652 miles of rail line in Wisconsin and Michigan from Wisconsin Central Ltd. (WCL), which is controlled by CN.
The public now has until Jan. 3, 2022 to provide comments on the scope of environmental review for the proposed Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) reported on Dec. 17.
The Surface Transportation Board (STB) on Dec. 15 approved the construction and operation of the Uinta Basin Railway in Utah; STB Chairman Martin Oberman was the sole dissenter.
No two words torment railroad executives and their investors more than “reciprocal switching”—a potential Surface Transportation Board (STB) decree that a railroad with sole physical access to a shipper facility transfer (switch) a shipper’s cars to a junction point with a second (competing) railroad. The second railroad pays a compensatory per-car switching fee whose reasonableness is determined by the STB.
Canadian Pacific (CP) on Dec. 14 completed its acquisition of Kansas City Southern (KCS); KCS shares have been placed into a voting trust until the Surface Transportation Board (STB) issues a decision on railroads’ proposed combination, Canadian Pacific Kansas City, which is expected in fourth-quarter 2022.
For its 50th anniversary fiscal year (Oct. 2020-Sept. 2021), Amtrak provided 12.2 million passenger trips, representing a growth of 4 million over the 2020 rate and a 42% rise over its FY21 goal, the railroad reported on Dec. 13.
“Recovering our service is our highest priority, and we assure you we are taking action to achieve this as quickly as possible,” Norfolk Southern President Alan H. Shaw wrote in a Dec. 10 letter to Surface Transportation Board Chairman Martin Oberman, who asked the Class I railroad to address the deterioration of “key operating metrics” and the increasing number of customer complaints to STB about its “poor performance.”
The Surface Transportation Board (STB) on Dec. 10 reported that it will hold a virtual public hearing on the revised CSX-Pan Am merger application, and affirmed that an environmental and historic review of the proposed combination is not required.
Canadian Pacific (CP) shareholders “overwhelmingly support” the proposed CP-Kansas City Southern (KCS) merger agreement, CP reported on Dec. 8, following a virtual shareholder meeting; the merger would create Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), the first U.S.-Mexico-Canada rail network.
The Senate on Dec. 7 confirmed Democrat Deirdre Hamilton as a member of the National Mediation Board, succeeding Republican Kyle Fortson, whose first term expired, and shifting the three-member agency to a Democratic majority.
