CN, BNSF PROPOSE ONE-YEAR STB REVIEW OF MERGER PROPOSAL

CN, BNSF PROPOSE ONE-YEAR STB REVIEW OF MERGER PROPOSAL       The Canadian National Railway Co. and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. filed a petition Friday with the U.S. Surface Transportation Board proposing a 365-day schedule for the STB’s review of the railroad’s proposed merger.
      CN and BNSF plan to file their joint application with the board shortly after March 20.
   “BNSF and CN have been talking to their customers and understand their concerns about service and competitive issues,” the railroads said in the application.”BNSF and CN will be making proposals to resolve those issues in the near future.”
      The railroad’s proposal is substantially longer than the STB has taken in recent merger reviews, but not as long as the board is allowed to take.
      The proposed CN-BNSF merger would create a 50,000-mile rail network that would employ 67,000 people and have combined revenue of about $12.5 billion.
      Competing railroads have come out against the merger, however, arguing the Class 1 railroads haven't recovered from recent mergers that have reduced the rail industry to two primary eastern railroads and two major western railroads.
      The STB will hold a hearing March 8 on the railroad mergers and the future of the North American rail industry.
      The STB said the hearing was prompted, in part, by the proposed BNSF-CN merger and a Jan. 14 letter from Chairman Bud Shuster and Ranking Democratic Member James L. Oberstar of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure urging the board “to promptly explore all options to ensure an early and vigorous debate” on the “downstream” effects of the proposed BNSF/CN merger are in the public interests.