The deadline to comment on the draft environmental analysis of the proposed merger of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern has been extended to Oct. 14.
The U.S. Surface Transportation Board said on Tuesday it extended the deadline at the request of officials from “affected communities.”
The notice extending the comment period noted “no further extensions of time will be granted” after the October due date.”
A final environmental analysis will be issued after the comment period closes.
Comments on the draft analysis may be submitted electronically on the Board-sponsored project website or the Board’s website by clicking on the “E-FILING” link.
An interagency federal government committee has given its approval of the proposed merger of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States is authorized to review certain transactions involving foreign investment and certain real estate transactions by foreign entities to determine their effect on national security.
The merger is still being reviewed by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board. That review is expected to be completed by early 2023.
It was a sunny October Sunday in 2010. I was out with Roger Durfee and we had in mind catching some action on the CSX New Castle Subdivision.
Roger learned somehow that a westbound CSX coal train had a Kansas City Southern leader. Then, as now, KCS motive power was not unheard of in Northeast Ohio, but it wasn’t that common, either.
Roger turned his Jeep eastward and we intercepted the train at Newton Falls, seen in the top image. From there we photographed the coal train in at least three other places. Akron wasn’t one of them, probably because urban traffic would result in our not being able to keep pace with the train.
On the point was KCS AC44CW No. 4594 in the gray livery with yellow nose stripes that had been built by GE in November 1999. The trailing unit was a BNSF “pumpkin”
We chased that train to east of Greenwich, where it stopped to wait for traffic ahead to clear.
Among our other photo locations were Nova and River Corners Road west of Lodi, with the latter being seen in the bottom image above.
It was one of the longest chases of a single train that I’ve been involved with on the New Castle Sub. It also was kinda fun and made more exhilarating by bagging something that I seldom had been able to catch during my various railfan outings in Northeast Ohio.
The fall foliage we found along the tracks wasn’t too bad, either.
Three days of public hearings will be held in September by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board as it continues to review the proposed merger of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern.
The hearings will be held at STB headquarters in Washington on Sept. 28, 29 and 30 and will be livestreamed online.
In a news release, regulators said the deadline to register to speak during the hearings will be Sept. 14. It also set an Oct. 14 deadline for submission of briefs in the case. After that date the STB will close the record on the merger.
By federal law regulators are required to issue a ruling in a merger proceeding within 90 days after the close of the record unless an environmental analysis has not been completed.
That would push the decision date for the merger to as late as mid-January with the decision becoming effective 30 days later.
Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern have asked the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to approve their merger without conditions.
The two recently filed a 4,300-document with the STB in which they sought to rebut requests for conditions being made by other railroads and interested parties.
CP-KCS content that their merger is compellingly in the public interest and should be approved without conditions “beyond those embodying the commitments Applicants are making.”
Those commitments, including some made to Amtrak, are detailed in the document.
CP-KCS noted that no shipper or shipper association has suggested that the merger be denied.
Amtrak said Thursday it will support the merger of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern during the regulatory review process.
The passenger carrier said CP has agreed to cooperate with Amtrak in various service expansions in the Midwest and South.
These include increasing the frequency of service between Chicago and Milwaukee; extending a Hiawatha Service trains west of Milwaukee to St. Paul, Minnesota; and allowing Amtrak to use the Detroit River Tunnel to extend service to Toronto via Windsor, Ontario.
The latter service would connect with trains of VIA Rail Canada.
CP also has agreed to work with Amtrak to launch new service between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and to participate in a study of new service between Dallas and Meridian, Mississippi.
In a statement, Amtrak President Stephen J. Gardner cited CP’s “consistent record as an Amtrak host” railroad, having achieved an A rating in the passenger carrier’s annual host railroad report card.
Amtrak said CP is the first Class I railroad to “complete 100 percent certification of its Amtrak schedules” to the U.S. Surface Transportation Board.
Canadian Pacific is expected to assume ownership of Kansas City Southern today (Dec. 14, 2021).
The $31 billion acquisition was approved by shareholders of both companies last year, but a merger of the two companies is pending review by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board.
KCS will continue to operate as an independent company during the review period and be placed in a blind trust until the STB rules in what is expected to be the fourth quarter of 2022.
During this period, management of KCS is expected to remain the same.
In an unrelated development involving Class 1 railroad mergers, the STB has set hearing dates of Jan. 13-14, 2022, for the proposed merger of CSX and New England regional railroad Pan Am Railways.
The hearing will be held online on Jan. 13 with time reserved for the following day if needed.
Those wishing to address the Board must file a notice of intent to participate by Dec. 20. The STB also said last week that it will not require an environmental and historic review in the CSX acquisition of Pan Am.
Stockholders of Kansas City Southern voted overwhelmingly on Friday in favor of a merger with Canadian Pacific.
KCS said the merger won approval of 99.6 percent of the votes cast. Earlier in the week CP shareholders approved the merger by a similar tally.
CP has proposed acquiring KCS in a stock and cash transaction by which KCS common share holders will receive $90 in cash and 2.844 CP shares for each KCS share held.
KCS preferred shareholders will receive $37.50 in cash. The deal is expected to close on Dec. 14 at which time KCS will be placed in a voting trust while the U.S. Surface Transportation Board reviews the proposed merger.
If the merger wins regulatory approval, the surviving company will be known as Canadian Pacific Kansas City.
The STB is expected to rule on the merger by the fourth quarter of 2022. The merger earlier received approval of regulators in Mexico.
Shareholders of Canadian Pacific today approved a merger with Kansas City Southern. KCS shareholders will vote on the merger on Friday.
The vast majority of CP stockholders approved the $31 billion deal, which involves CP buying KCS and putting it in a blind trust while U.S. regulators consider the merger.
Terms of the deal include CP issuing 277 million shares of CP common stock to KCS common stock holders.
Review of the merger by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board is expected to take much of 2022.
If the merger is approved the surviving company will operate as Canadian Pacific Kansas City.
The Mexican Federal Economic Competition Commission on Friday approved a proposed merger of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern.
Mexican approval was needed because KCS has rail lines in that country.
The merger, which involves CP buying KCS, must still be reviewed by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board, a process that is expected to take about year.
At present CP and KCS continue to operate as independent entities, but if shareholders of both companies approve the deal later this month CP plans to place KCS into a blind trust owned by CP.
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