CN Sues STB Over Line Sale Stipulation

Canadian National has gone to court to overturn a U.S. Surface Transportation Board edict in its proposed purchase of a CSX line.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, seeks to set aside some conditions the STB imposed when it approved the sale.

CN argues that the STB is required to approve a line sale unless the competitive harm of the transaction outweighs its benefits.

The transaction in question is 263.3 miles of the CSX Massena line between Syracuse, New York, and Montreal.

CN has proposed acquiring the track through its U.S. subsidiary Bessemer & Lake Erie

In approving the sale, the STB made it contingent upon the railroads removing a clause that would forever prohibit CN from seeking to interchange traffic with short lines Finger Lakes Railway and New York, Susquehanna & Western in the Syracuse area.

After CN and CSX were unable to come to terms with that stipulation, they asked the STB to reconsider its decision.

But the board refused and the line sale has been in limbo since late February.

Tags: Canadian National, CSX, CSX Masena Line, rail line sales, railroad lawsuits, Railroad line sales, U.S. Surface Transportation Board