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NEWS PHOTO EDITOR
OTTO M. VONDRAK
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NEWS COORDINATOR KEVIN C. SNYDER
KSNYDER@RAILFAN.COM
BNSF RAILWAY SAYRE KOS
BNSFNEWS@RAILFAN.COM
CANADIAN SHORTLINES GLENN COURTNEY
CDNSHORTS@RAILFAN.COM
CANADIAN NATIONAL SAYRE KOS
CNNEWS@RAILFAN.COM
CANADIAN PACIFIC JAY BROOKS
CPNEWS@RAILFAN.COM
CSX TRANSPORTATION CHASE GUNNOE
CSXNEWS@RAILFAN.COM
IOWA INTERSTATE ALLAN HUNT
IAISNEWS@RAILFAN.COM
IRON ORE ROADS
DAVE SCHAUER
ORENEWS@RAILFAN.COM
KANSAS CITY SOUTHERN DANNY JOHNSON
KCSNEWS@RAILFAN.COM
MONTANA RAIL LINK JUSTIN FRANZ
MRLNEWS@RAILFAN.COM
NORFOLK SOUTHERN SCOTT LINDSEY
NSNEWS@RAILFAN.COM
PASSENGER AND COMMUTER OTTO M. VONDRAK
OTTO@RAILFAN.COM
REGIONALS/SHORTLINES - WEST GARLAND MCKEE
WESTSHORTS@RAILFAN.COM
REGIONALS/SHORTLINES - EAST STEPHAN KOENIG
EASTSHORTS@RAILFAN.COM
UNION PACIFIC KEVIN SNYDER
UPNEWS@RAILFAN.COM
STEAM/PRESERVATION JEFFREY D. TERRY
STEAMNEWS@RAILFAN.COM
WWW.RAILFAN.COM/RAILNEWS
spilled into the nearby Athabasca River, and as of January 3, about 500 tons of the spilled product had been recovered, indicated Parks Canada. CN has contracted with an environmental consulting firm to oversee the operation, although no timeline for completion of that process had been established as of press time. The December 10 derailment came
shortly after a derailment in the same area on December 6 where one set of wheels came off the rail. Neither Transportation Safety Board of Canada nor CN drew a connection between the derailments.
CANADIAN PACIFIC JAY BROOKS
Merger Campaign Continues
Despite being turned away by Norfolk Southern executives at the end of 2015 regarding a possible merger, Canadian Pacific CEO Hunter Harrison is continuing his campaign for a transcontinental union. Key points of his platform include increased operational efficiencies for both companies, especially around the congested Chicago terminal. Directors at NS have rejected offers by CP, instead working on its own restructuring in the wake of a rapidly declining domestic coal market. The biggest stumbling block remains regulatory approval, which the Surface Transportation Board had previously indicated would be hard to come by for a merger of this magnitude. Combination of CP and NS would create a corporation worth more than $45 billion and oversee a system of nearly 35,000 miles of track. Harrison proposed placing CP in voting trust so that his management team could move in and take control of NS operations while the regulatory reviews took place. This was the same strategy Harrison used when he was head of Canadian National and acquired Illinois Central in 1998. In response to an inquiry from Rep.
Rob Goodlatte (R-Va.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.), chairman of the judiciary subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law, expressing their concerns about the effects of a potential merger, the STB said it “has not approved that particular arrangement in the context of a proposed merger between two Class I railroads.” In its response to the January 7 inquiry, the board also noted since 1998 it has changed the rail merger rules in
ways that ensure it would “take a much more cautious approach” to approving voting trusts, including whether such a move would be in the best interest of the public. “Therefore, should CP pursue a voting trust arrangement with NS in connection with a request for merger approval, the board would consider issues related both to unlawful pre-approval control and to the public interest,” the STB said. Adding to the drama are statements
from BNSF Railway and Union Pacific challenging CP’s merger plans. In December, BNSF Railway Executive Chairman Matt Rose was open to making a competing offer for NS, and hinted that CSX would also be a possible target. Lance Fritz, president and CEO of Union Pacific Railroad, told attendees at the annual winter meeting of Midwest Association of Rail Shippers, “Job 1, from our perspective, is to stop a Class I merger from occurring.” Both BNSF and UP are concerned approval would trigger a wave of consolidation that would hurt the industry and challenge competition. —O.M.V.
Schedule Changes All trains crossing the international
border at Noyes, Minn., have had terminal time increased for crew changes. For each northbound train, 45 minutes has been added and 65 minutes has beem added for each southbound. Trains 287 and 289 (both Clearing Yard, Chicago-St. Paul, Minn., manifest) have had one hour of station time added at Bensenville Yard in Chicago to perform work.
Trains 400 (Coquitlam, B.C.- Sutherland, Sask., manifest) and 401 (Sutherland-Coquitlam, manifest) have both had 45 minutes removed from their schedule at Macklin, Sask. Train 400 has also had 40 minutes removed from Hardisty, Alb., and 401 now departs 90 minutes later to improve meets with other trains along its route. Train 410 (Moose Jaw, Sask.-Winnipeg, Man., manifest) now departs five hours earlier to make better use of crew availability. As a result, counterpart Train 411 (Winnipeg-Moose Jaw, manifest) has had its schedule modified and now departs Moose Jaw at 5:30 p.m. Trains 412 and 413 now operate two days per week instead of three due to lower traffic volumes. Train 412 (Sutherland-Moose Jaw, manifest) operates on Tuesday and Saturday while 413 (Regina-Sutherland manifest) operates on Monday and Friday. Train 460 (Lambton Yard, Toronto-Alyth Yard, Calgary, Alb., manifest) now departs earlier at 8:30
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