Railroad News

Rail News Home Kansas City Southern 8/2/2021 Rail News: Kansas City Southern
Kansas City Southern today responded to Canadian Pacific's filing last week of a preliminary proxy statement seeking votes against the CN-KCS merger proposal.In a prepared statement, KCS officials said that CP's filing "is part of an effort to defeat a transaction that offers KCS shareholders $50 per share more than CP was willing to offer."In May, CP decided not to take advantage of its five-business-day match right, per the terms of its initial merger contract, to compete with CN’s superior proposal. Since that time, CP has consistently criticized the CN-KCS combination, KCS officials said.KCS officials also noted that, even though CP claims in its latest filing that its "ready to re-engage with KCS," CP has not made a new proposal."Nor did it commit to making one in the future," they said, adding that there can be no assurances that CP will make an offer or proposal to KCS.KCS continues to recommend that its shareholders vote in favor of the CN combination.KCS's full statement is available here.

Rail News Home CSX Transportation 7/30/2021 Rail News: CSX Transportation
Maine Gov. Janet Mills Photo – usm.maine.edu

Rail News Home Canadian Pacific 7/30/2021 Rail News: Canadian Pacific
Canadian Pacific yesterday announced it filed a proxy statement asking Kansas City Southern shareholders to vote against the proposed CN-KCS combination at KCS' special meeting of stockholders scheduled on Aug. 19.CP is asking stockholders to vote against the proposed combination so that CN's proposed acquisition can be decided at a later date, when more information will be available to KCS stockholders."CP has always said it wanted to do a friendly deal with KCS and that remains true," said CP President and Chief Executive Officer Keith Creel in a press release. "CP would have preferred not to appeal directly to KCS's stockholders, but given the impending vote on CN's proposal, we believe we have no choice. What we are doing here is simply contesting the vote on the CN-KCS proposal because a 'yes' vote now would lock KCS stockholders in until February 2022, instead of their being free to consider other, better, options.”CP wants to ensure that KCS stockholders are aware that a vote “without the benefit of an STB decision on the CN voting trust proposal and without a chance to consider other proposals until the spring of next year, would not be in their best interests," Creel added.CP maintains that its proposed merger with KCS “remains the only viable Class I combination,” according to the release. The STB has already approved CP’s use of a voting trust and affirmed KCS's waiver form 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 I combination," they said.

Rail News Home Canadian National Railway - CN 7/29/2021 Rail News: Canadian National Railway - CN
CN announced today that it is seeking comments on its interim extreme weather fire plan.The plan presents measures to increase prevention, monitoring and responses to wildfire risks when the fire danger level for a given area is "extreme."The measures will supplement existing practices and enable the railroad to serve customers while protecting neighboring communities, CN officials said in a press release.CN is seeking the input of local communities and governments, including Indigenous governments or other Indigenous governing bodies.The deadline to provide feedback is Aug. 30. To submit comments, use the following web-based platform www.cn.ca/extremeweatherplan or call 1-888-888-5909.