Wisconsin, Minnesota, receive $31.8 million to upgrade Twin Cities-Milwaukee-Chicago rail route

Illustration showing locations of construction projects on Amtrak route between Twin Cities and La Crosse, Wis.

LA CROSSE, Wis. — Departments of Transportation in Wisconsin and Minnesota will receive a $31.8 million grant for infrastructure upgrades to allow a second Twin Cities-Chicago passenger train, as well as improved freight operation, on the route through La Crosse, Wis.,  and Milwaukee. Federal Railroad Administration Administrator Amit Bose, Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner, and officials […]

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CP, KCS launch Lazaro Cardenas-Chicago intermodal service

Train with red, yellow, and black diesels operating at night

CHICAGO — In a preview of operations planned if their merger is approved, Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern have launched interline intermodal service between Mexico’s port of Lázaro Cárdenas and Chicago. The first train arrived at CP’s Bensenville Yard in Illinois on Tuesday. CP said in a press release the service was launched “out […]

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Analysis: No deal-breakers emerge from barrage of comments about CP-KCS merger

Red locomotive leads multicolored locomotives in snow

Bash Canadian Pacific Kansas City Day – otherwise known as Feb. 28, the deadline for comments on the CP-Kansas City Southern merger – has come and gone. What have we learned from the flurry of regulatory filings from other railroads, shippers, and lineside communities? The Class I railroads behaved like you’d expect: Following a tradition […]

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Fertilizer firm asks Canadian government to block rail strike

Logo of fertilizer company Nutrien

SASKATOON, Saskatchewan — Fertilizer firm Nutrien is asking the Canadian government to block a potential Canadian Pacific strike, saying an interruption to rail service could lead to smaller crop harvests, Bloomberg reports. Teamster Canada Rail Coalition members voted in favor of a strike against CP, the union announced earlier this week [see “Teamsters Canava vote …,” […]

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Shippers back CP-KCS merger if regulators impose conditions to protect competition

Train with red locomotives passing through industrial area.

WASHINGTON — Shippers say they will support the proposed Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger so long as regulatory approval of the first Class I combination in two decades includes conditions that would protect competition. The broadest coalition of shipper groups — the American Chemistry Council, The Fertilizer Institute, and the National Industrial Transportation League — in a […]

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Teamsters Canada vote approves strike against Canadian Pacific

Teamsters_Canada_logo

CALGARY, Alberta — Members of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference have approved a possible strike against Canadian Pacific, the union reported to members after a strike vote concluded on Feb. 28. Union officials said 3,062 ballots were sent out to members. While it did not report the number of ballots returned, 96.7% of those voting […]

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BNSF Railway critical of CPKC merger proposals, seeks protections from regulators

Train with four locomotives from three railroads

WASHINGTON — BNSF Railway has urged federal regulators to take steps to protect cross-border traffic to and from Mexico as part of any approval of the proposed Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger. But BNSF dropped its plan to pursue trackage rights over KCS to the Laredo, Texas, gateway in its Monday regulatory filing, which was […]

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Norfolk Southern says CPKC merger threatens Meridian Speedway intermodal business

Map of eastern U.S. highlighting route between Meridian, Miss., and Shreveport, La.

WASHINGTON — Norfolk Southern sees the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger as a threat to its Meridian Speedway intermodal traffic. NS announced its intention to protect its Meridian Speedway traffic in a pair of Monday regulatory filings posted to the Surface Transportation Board website on Tuesday. NS may exercise its option to purchase the KCS-served […]

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Union Pacific: CP-KCS merger could harm competition at Laredo gateway

Train with two locomotives and hopper cars on track parallelling street

WASHINGTON — Union Pacific has asked federal regulators to ensure that a merger of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern does not undermine competition at the Laredo, Texas, gateway. Laredo, the most important Mexico border crossing, is where UP interchanges with KCS de Mexico and stands to lose traffic to the combined Canadian Pacific Kansas […]

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Canadian National questions foundation of CP-KCS merger application

Train with Kansas City Southern, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific locomotives passes one with Canadian Naitonal power

WASHINGTON — Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern have vastly overestimated traffic and revenue growth that would flow from their proposed combination, making the rest of their merger application a house of cards, Canadian National claims in a regulatory filing. The CP-KCS merger application is so “riddled with errors” that the Surface Transportation Board should not […]

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Chicago suburbs seek $9.5 billion to mitigate potential impact of CP-KCS merger (updated)

Locomotive next to wood station building

WASHINGTON — A coalition of Chicago suburbs says it would cost between $5.5 billion and $9.5 billion to mitigate the impact of the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger on their communities. That’s more than the entire price tag of the CREATE program, which aims to spend $4.6 billion on 70 rail improvement projects across the […]

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