The U.S. House of Representatives on Dec. 10, 2015 passed S. 808, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) Reauthorization Act of 2015, which among other provisions, will increase the number of STB members from three to five, improving STB’s structure and decision-making processes by allowing, with proper disclosure, board members to speak with one another about cases on which the STB is ruling.
“Take Canadian Pacific (CP) CEO Hunter Harrison out of the equation and CP’s offer to Norfolk Southern (NS) and its shareholders would have little chance of getting anywhere, in our opinion,” said Managing Director and Railway Age Wall Street Contributing Editor Jason Seidl.
Canadian Pacific’s pursuit of Norfolk Southern has taken on the tone of a rough-and-tumble yet well-intentioned star athlete pulling out all the stops to capture the heart of his dream woman, a relationship-shy political science major who continues to resist her suitor’s advances with perfectly logical yet unemotional reasons why the two aren’t right for each other.
Levitation takes two forms among railroads—magnetic levitation relating to futuristic high-speed passenger transport, and stock levitation associated with bidding wars for asset control.
It’s official: Canadian Pacific on Nov. 17, 2015 sent an offer letter to Norfolk Southern proposing a merger (an acquisition, really) “that would create a transcontinental railroad with the scale and reach to deliver improved levels of service to customers and communities while enhancing competition and creating significant shareholder value.” On Nov. 18, CP, in response to NS’s tepid response to the initial offer, provided “full disclosure.”
Few obstacles bedevil railroads as has the Mississippi River. Spanning it was the nation’s first rail bridge in 1856—promptly assaulted by steamboat Effie Afton. While the bridge was repaired and more constructed, the river remains a problematic divide, separating, with few exceptions, eastern railroads from those operating in the West and producing grueling interchange bottlenecks at Chicago.
Canadian Pacific Railway has held early-stage merger talks with Norfolk Southern and is raising financing for an acquisition, according to Nov. 9, 2015 news reports citing confidential sources at both carriers. NS stock jumped 11%, the most since 2008, to $88.62 at the close of the New York Stock Exchange, while CP’s 5.7% rally to C$188.79 on the Toronto Stock Exchange was its biggest gain since 2013.
The Surface Transportation Board (STB) announced Nov. 9, 2015 that its staff will hold informal meetings with stakeholders between Nov. 16, 2015 and Dec. 7, 2015, on proposed rules for reporting railroad service performance data in the pending proceeding United States Rail Service Issues, EP 724.
Linda J. Morgan, 63, the former U.S. Surface Transportation Board Chair who led the agency during the railroad megamergers of the 1990s, died Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2015, after a long battle with cancer.
Here’s a mystery for you, but don’t anticipate—as in the board game, “Clue”—that it’s “Col. Mustard, in the library, with a candlestick.” The perp here is the U.S. Senate—the deed done under the Capitol Dome and with a pen (okay, a word processor).
