The activity involving Kansas City Southern and its two potential merger partners, Canadian Pacific and CN, took yet another turn late on May 13. CN appears to have come out on top, but don’t count CP out, at least not yet.
Another 180 customers and stakeholders have submitted letters to CN in support of its proposed combination with Kansas City Southern (KCS), its use of a voting trust, or both, upping the total to more than 1,000, CN reported May 12. All have been filed with the Surface Transportation Board (STB).
The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) “stands ready” to work with Amtrak, CSX, Norfolk Southern (NS) and other stakeholders to restore “long overdue” passenger service between New Orleans and Mobile, it wrote in a recent Surface Transportation Board (STB) filing.
As Canadian Pacific and CN vie for a merger with Kansas City Southern, the letters of support for both potential transactions continue to pile up at the Surface Transportation Board. On May 10, it was CP’s turn to up its count, as it reported 131 new letters.
Picture a customer who receives a hefty invoice from an auto repair shop with several additional charges and no details regarding the nature of these fees. The customer is left facing the question of whether to dispute the bill, and if so, how. Such has been the experience of U.S. rail shippers in recent decades when receiving invoices from the railroads for demurrage charges, which are applied by railroads for costs incurred when shipments are held up beyond a reasonable time.
FINANCIAL EDGE, RAILWAY AGE MAY 2021 ISSUE: The scuffle between CP and CN to acquire Kansas City Southern requires comment. In the 2021 Railroad Financial Desk Book, it was noted that KCS’s
The Surface Transportation Board on May 6 approved, by unanimous vote, a voting trust for Canadian Pacific’s proposed merger with Kansas City Southern. “The Board finds that formal Board review of the voting trust agreement proposed for use in connection with this transaction is warranted and determines that the proposed arrangement is acceptable with certain modifications,” STB wrote in Docket No. FD 36500.
Customers and other stakeholders are voicing support as well as concerns to the Surface Transportation Board (STB) about CN’s proposed combination with Kansas City Southern (KCS), according to simultaneous press releases from CN and Canadian Pacific.
Canadian Pacific on April 30 filed a formal objection with the Surface Transportation Board stating that CN “does not qualify for a waiver of the STB’s rules for major transactions, with respect to CN’s unsolicited proposal for Kansas City Southern.”
President Joe Biden will nominate Democrat Karen J. Hedlund, current Vice President and National Rail Strategy Advisor at WSP USA and former Federal Railroad Administration Deputy Administrator, to replace Republican Ann Begeman on the Surface Transportation Board.