Asisde from the normal New York Dock conditions applied to every merger, keeping open the Kansas City, St. Louis, and New Orleans gateways are the only conditions I see the Surf Board putting on CPKC. Such a condition would be a throwback to the "DT&I Conditions," where a merged railroad would have to keep open all gateways that existed prior to the merger. In a pre-Staggers world, the DT&I Conditions were a liability. Railroads were forced to operate lines with little to no traffic to serve hundreds of gateways few shippers used. The condidtions where abolished after deregulation however, I wonder if they could make a comeback. A modern version of the DT&I conditions might be seen as a way to protect shippers routings in the event of Class I megamergers. We are down to about two dozen interchange points between major railroads, and they work quite well, Chicago nonwithstanding. It also might be the first step towards open acess here in the United States.
There is some more news. The deadline for groups to challenge KCS's exemption from the post-2001 Class I merger rules was yesterday. From
Trains Magazine:
WASHINGTON — Several trade associations, a major agricultural shipper, and Norfolk Southern today asked the Surface Transportation Board to review Canadian Pacific’s proposed acquisition of Kansas City Southern under the more stringent 2001 merger rules.
https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews ... ent-rules/
Here is a link to Norfolk Southern's letter:
https://dcms-external.s3.amazonaws.com/ ... 301866.pdf
NS wants the CPKC deal to be considered by the current Class I merger rules. Interestingly, NS does not take any position on the merger itself. Strange, considering NS and KCS jointly own the Meridian Speedway line in the Southeast. Norfolk Southern and Canadian Pacific have been close partners in the Northeast for going on 20 years. So NS would not have any big issues with CP steping into KCS's role on the Speedway. NS continues to be a company that both fascinates and confuses me.
As I complete this post, BNSF sent their own letter to the STB, echoing what NS said in their letter. The CPKC deal should be considered by the current rules. No offical position taken on the merger though.
https://dcms-external.s3.amazonaws.com/ ... 301876.pdf
Going back though the STB filing, UP and CN have also sent letters in saying the CPKC deal should be considered by the current rules.
CN:
https://dcms-external.s3.amazonaws.com/ ... 301874.pdf
UP:
https://dcms-external.s3.amazonaws.com/ ... 301871.pdf
Now CSX gets in on the action. Saying they don't care either way.
https://dcms-external.s3.amazonaws.com/ ... 301873.pdf
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