Amtrak on July 8 said it will renew its request that the Surface Transportation Board (STB) intervene on its behalf if CSX and Norfolk Southern (NS) don’t cooperate on hosting new passenger service between New Orleans and Mobile.
Kansas City Southern (KCS) stockholders will vote on the railroad’s proposed combination with CN on Aug. 19.
President Biden on July 9 will sign an Executive Order directing federal regulators to “confront consolidation and perceived anticompetitive pricing” in the railroad and ocean shipping industries, among many others, “as part of a broad effort to blunt the power of big business to dominate industries,” according to a July 8 Wall Street Journal story by reporters Tedd Mann and Andrew Restuccia.
Proposed merger partners CN and Kansas City Southern (KCS) have submitted to the Surface Transportation Board (STB) a reply to comments filed on the railroads’ voting trust agreement. They detailed why the trust should be approved. KCS rival merger partner Canadian Pacific (CP) is unconvinced.
On May 26, The Surface Transportation Board rejected as “incomplete” the merger application filed by CSX Transportation, Inc. to acquire control of Pan Am Systems, Inc. and its short line railroad subsidiaries. CSX on July 1 submitted an “amended and supplemented application” to the STB, stating that the refreshed application “provides all of the additional details of the proposed transaction requested by the STB.”
Following the closing of the public comment period for the CN voting trust, which ended June 28, we are re-calibrating our expectations and now believe there to be a ~60% chance the Surface Transportation Board approves it. Our viewpoints swayed slightly in favor of CN following a closer look at the public comments over the past 20 days.
Amtrak has asked the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to reject CN’s use of a voting trust in its proposed combination with Kansas City Southern (KCS). The passenger railroad’s comments were filed June 28, along with those from Canadian Pacific (CP), KCS’ rival merger partner.
Proposed merger partners CN and Kansas City Southern (KCS), and KCS rival partner Canadian Pacific, on June 28 reported additional support for their respective combinations. It is the final day of the Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) public comment period on the CN-KCS voting trust.
The Surface Transportation Board’s Office of Environmental Analysis (OEA) has updated its Rail Heritage Map.
Canadian Pacific (CP) has reported that another 80 stakeholders have filed statements with the Surface Transportation Board (STB) “expressing concerns” about the proposed CN-Kansas City Southern (KCS) merger, its use of a voting trust, or both.