Amtrak urges regulators to reject CN’s request to gain control of KCS’s former Gateway Western trackage

Passenger train passes freight

WASHINGTON – Amtrak has urged federal regulators to reject Canadian National’s quest to obtain Kansas City Southern’s former Gateway Western trackage as a condition of the proposed Canadian Pacific-KCS merger. CN aims to create a new single-line route dubbed the Springfield Speedway that would link Kansas City and St. Louis with Chicago, Detroit, and Eastern […]

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CP-KCS merger will snarl key Chicago rail junction, CN tells regulators

Container train under overhead signals

WASHINGTON – The Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger will snarl rail traffic in Chicago, particularly at a key junction where CP operates on trackage rights over Canadian National and Metra, CN has told federal regulators. CP says the merger will generate significant growth in intermodal and automotive traffic that will be sorted at its Bensenville […]

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Metra scales back level of delays anticipated from Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger

Commuter train arrives at two-story station

WASHINGTON — In March, Metra said it would oppose the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger because changes to freight operations in the Chicago area would increase commuter train delays by 400%. Last month, Metra’s more detailed analysis of the revised operating plan CP and KCS submitted to federal regulators showed the merger actually would increase […]

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Federal regulators to look at CN, NS requests for conditions on CP-KCS merger

Red locomotive leads multicolored locomotives in snow

WASHINGTON — As part of their review of the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger, federal regulators will consider requests for conditions from Canadian National and Norfolk Southern. The Surface Transportation Board on July 1 said that it has accepted the so-called responsive applications from CN and NS. CN has asked the board to force CP […]

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Federal Maritime Commission members urge STB to reject CP-KCS merger

Red locomotive with freight in Illinois

WASHINGTON — Three of the Federal Maritime Commission’s five members have urged the Surface Transportation Board to reject the proposed Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger, saying the deal would hurt U.S. ports. Canadian ports — particularly Vancouver and Prince Rupert in British Columbia — have been gaining market share for containerized traffic that’s ultimately bound […]

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Illinois grain shipper opposes CN request to force CP and KCS to divest Springfield Line as part of merger

Two trains side-by-side

WASHINGTON — A major grain shipper opposes Canadian National’s effort to force Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern to divest the KCS line linking Springfield, Ill., and Kansas City. Earlier this year CN asked the Surface Transportation Board to condition approval of the CP-KCS merger on divestiture of KCS’s Springfield Line. CN promises to spend […]

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How Wall Street holds railroads hostage: Analysis

Man climbing on front steps of orange locomotive

The U.S. Class I railroads’ recurring crew shortages, related bouts of service problems, and a lack of meaningful volume growth are intertwined. You can lay the blame for all three problems at just one place: Wall Street. BNSF Railway, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific are in the midst of the mother of all […]

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Metra says new analysis shows CP-KCS merger would vastly increase commuter train delays

Commuter train arrives at two-story station

WASHINGTON – The impact of the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger on Metra commuter operations is even worse than initially thought, the Chicago area commuter railroad has told federal regulators. Changes to CP’s operations in the Chicago area as a result of the merger would cause up to a 1,200% increase in delays to commuter […]

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Norfolk Southern warns that CP-KCS merger would hurt service on Meridian Speedway

NS9656

WASHINGTON — The Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger threatens to degrade intermodal service on the Meridian Speedway that serves as a shortcut between the Southeast and Southwest, Norfolk Southern told federal regulators this week. NS and KCS currently operate interline intermodal trains over the Meridian, Miss.-Shreveport, La., joint venture. KCS handles the NS trains over […]

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Data reported to federal regulators reveal extent of deterioration in rail service

Overall on-time performance for the big four U.S. Class I railroads has fallen from a pre-pandemic average of 85% to just 67% in the last week of May 2022, as crew shortages continue to plague rail service. The extent of the service decline was revealed in historic on-time performance data that BNSF Railway, CSX Transportation, […]

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Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern run interline intermodal test train carrying produce from Mexico

Logos for Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern

Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern want to haul produce grown in Mexico to destinations in the Midwest and Canada. The railways ran an interline intermodal train from Laredo to the Midwest this week to test the truck-conversion concept, CP Chief Marketing Officer John Brooks told an investor conference on Tuesday. The train — CP […]

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