Railroad News

The American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) recently named CN the winner of the 2021 Dr. William W. Hay Award for Excellence for the New McComb Bonnet Carre Spillway Bridge project in Louisiana.

The award honors the memory of William Walter Hay, a longtime AREMA contributor and professor of railway civil engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Each year, the association bestows the award to projects that best illustrate safety, innovation and service performance reliability.

CN today responded to what it describes as “numerous misleading claims and inconsistencies” in recent disclosures by CIFF Capital and TCI Fund Management (collectively TCI), a major shareholder of CN.

In a press release, CN officials said TCI has a “glaring conflict of interest” as the largest shareholder of Canadian Pacific, which is CN’s direct competitor. CN highlighted what it says are TCI’s “erroneous” claims, including:
• false or misleading characterizations of CN’s performance;
• inaccurate description of financial risks associated with CN’s bid for Kansas City Southern and refusal to acknowledge that CN walked away with an incremental $700 million amongst other strategic benefits;
• failure to provide a credible or differentiated plan; and
• failure to acknowledge concerns over the fact that TCI is the largest shareholder of CN’s principal competitor.

CN has published its 2021-2022 winter plan to explain how its employees and equipment will be prepared to reduce the impact of harsh weather conditions for customers, while ensuring the safety and effectiveness of its operations.

The plan, which is required by provisions of the Canada Transportation Act, was developed in consultation and collaboration with customers and stakeholders, CN officials said in the press release.