New York New York USA - According to a Bloomberg report, Canadian Pacific is considering to take over Norfolk Southern Corporation.
 
Following the news, Norfolk Southern stock's trading was momentarily halted due to the heightened investor interest it garnered.
 
Citing sources close to the matter, Bloomberg reported that Canadian Pacific Railway Limited already conducted initial merger talks with Norfolk Southern.
 
The latter is the second takeover target for Canadian Pacific, after talks with CSX Corporation failed last year.
 
The railroad company looks to take over a US-based counterpart in an effort to build a transcontinental carrier.
 
The Bloomberg report specified that the talks were preliminary, and will not necessarily end up in an agreement.
 
Following the news, Norfolk Southern stock gained 13.45 percent of its value, its greatest intraday gain since 2011.
 
Canadian Pacific investors reacted positively to the news as well, as the stock traded up as much as 8.26 percent during the day.
 
The news, and the subsequent reaction of both stocks, led the railroad industry to outperform the market today.
 
On the other hand, the Dow Jones US Rails Index traded up 3.1 percent, while the S&P500 traded down 1.11 percent, as of 14:25 EST today.
 
Larry Darrell.