Corona Virus Bailouts; PPP Loan for Springfield Terminal - what does this mean?

If I understand this correctly and assuming this is credible info, according to Propublica *, on April 11,2020, ST was approved to receive a PPP loan of an amount between $5M-$10M to compensate 500 employees. Per this report, ST appears to be the "Line Haul Railroad" that got the biggest loan amount. From my unscientific observations, the Pan Am operations seemed almost as busy this past summer as they did pre-pandemic. Not sure why ST needed such a loan and I wonder if it the loan was or will be forgiven? I have found and attached the ST entry in the Small Business Administration's PPP loan spreadsheet. There's a 27MB spreadsheet listing all PPP loan recipients that include "Line Haul RRs" and "Short Line RRs" that can be downloaded from the SBA

https://projects.propublica.org/coronav ... -railroads
https://projects.propublica.org/coronav ... 84e6614930

* According to its website, ProPublica "is an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism with moral force. We dig deep into important issues, shining a light on abuses of power and betrayals of public trust — and we stick with those issues as long as it takes to hold power to account."

Why are you surprised that Pan Am would try to take advantage of any kind of Government monies or special programs whether they actually qualify or not?

If you use X percentage of the PPP loan towards payroll it is forgiven. Even if you don't it's a cheap loan.

Companies must meet payroll, so operating funds are sucked there that otherwise would be used for other things like capital expenditures.

Haven't seen their tonnage to see how badly covid effected the numbers, so hard to cry foul. Many companies that one would think didn't need the money applied for it.

To me, this means that Tim Mellon just found another money source to keep his railroad running. Of course, whoever buys Pan Am will be the ones in charge of paying this back.

Stinks of politics. Mellon went out of his way to back Trump, and received a forgivable loan? I am *shocked* I tell you...

Shortline614 wrote: ↑Sat Nov 07, 2020 2:43 pm To me, this means that Tim Mellon just found another money source to keep his railroad running. Of course, whoever buys Pan Am will be the ones in charge of paying this back.

Buyers always take debt of a target that will be assumed into account in establishing how much they are willing to pay in cash. Total purchase price in corporate transactions is often a combination of assumed debt plus some cash. Any buyer would be expected to have its accountants examine whether the loan is expected to be forgiven