Calgary Alberta - Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (CP) today announced that more than 80 additional stakeholders have filed statements with the Surface Transportation Board (STB) expressing concerns about Canadian National (CN) and Kansas City Southern's (KCS) combination, its use of a voting trust, or both.
 
This brings the total opposed to over 330.
 
Together, more than 1,050 letters have been filed in support of CP's proposed combination with KCS or in opposition to the CN proposal.
 
Shippers that could lose shipping options in the New Orleans to Baton Rouge corridor have also submitted letters in opposition to CN's voting trust, including Pinnacle Polymers, which notes, "...we are closely monitoring this issue and ardently believe that the use of a trust for any merger under the 2001 Major Merger Rules would not be in our interest, much less the public interest.".
 
Last week, SMART-Transportation Division, North America's largest railroad operating union, submitted a letter urging the STB to reject CN's proposed use of a voting trust.
 
The letters highlight the extensive risks the proposed CN/KCS voting trust poses to competition by reducing shipper options.
 
Stakeholders also expressed strong concerns over the likelihood of reduced service quality and infrastructure investments as a result of the proposed CN transaction.
 
Public Comment Period for CN Voting Trust
 
In line with the public comment period, CP plans to file comments no later than 28 Jun 2021 explaining why the public interest costs of CN's proposed voting trust outweigh the non-existent benefits.
 
This public comment period, and the STB's subsequent deliberations, will determine the course of competition for U.S. railroading and North American commerce for the next 150 years.
 
Now is the time for stakeholders to voice their concerns about whether CN should be able to lock in its anti-competitive plan to buy KCS via a voting trust.
 
Stakeholders can express their concerns directly to the STB.
 
Importantly, the STB has already approved CP's use of a voting trust and affirmed KCS' waiver from the new rail merger rules it adopted in 2001 because a CP/KCS combination is truly end-to-end, pro-competitive, and the only viable Class 1 combination.
 
As previously announced, CP is continuing to pursue its application process to acquire KCS so that the pro-competitive CP/KCS combination can be reviewed by the STB and implemented without undue delay, in the event KCS' agreement with CN is terminated, or CN is otherwise unable to acquire control of KCS.
 
Author unknown.