CN

The investments will go toward network improvements as well as technology and decarbonization initiatives.

Members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers went on strike on Saturday.

Canadian railway CN has received a notice from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers that its members could go on strike this Saturday.

CN will implement Wabtec’s precision dispatch system over the next year.

“There’s been a big shock in the supply chains, and we’re working very hard to get our rhythm back and our operation back and to serve our customers well,” says new CEO Tracy Robinson.

Democratic leaders urge the Federal Railroad Administration to act on worker fatigue, while the Port of Montreal’s new container terminal will be served by rail.

Four Class I railroads have donated funds to support humanitarian relief efforts in Ukraine and surrounding areas. Also, U.S. and European rail sector officials form a task force to support Ukrainian freight and passenger rail.

CN and three other Class I railroads outlined to the Surface Transportation Board conditions that should be met before the board approves a merger between Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern.

The Surface Transportation Board wants more details about the concessions that BNSF and CN are seeking as Canadian Pacific acquires Kansas City Southern.

Canadian railway CN eyes volume growth from vaccine mandates and grain, and it expects higher volumes in the second half of 2022.

Canadian railway CN announced that former Canadian Pacific executive Tracy Robinson will succeed retiring CEO JJ Ruest at the end of February.

CN is asking the Surface Transportation Board to require Canadian Pacific to divest KCS’ Springfield Line in Missouri and Illinois to help ensure competition.

In this Q&A interview, FreightWaves chats with two CN executives about what customer benefits might arise from a seven-year partnership with Google Cloud.

Canadian Pacific inks a potash contract while CN’s British Columbia operations are nearly back to normal.

The end of 2021 brings the confirmation of a Surface Transportation Board member and approvals of short line requests.

The railroad veteran removed himself from consideration over the weekend.

The terminal says it has “abundant space” at the Millennium Marine Rail facility in New Jersey, as well as competitive import dwell time.

CN’s line between Kamloops and Vancouver has been shut down since Nov. 15 following extensive flooding and mudslides. Canadian Pacific reopened its line to limited traffic on Monday.

The Canadian railway is purchasing battery-electric freight locomotives from Wabtec and it is testing renewable fuel blends with Progress Rail.

Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern submit a joint application before the Surface Transportation Board asking to consolidate the two railroads while CN adds a rail and technology expert to its board.

In a quarterly earnings call, outgoing CEO JJ Ruest insists CN’s board of directors will conduct an extensive search for his successor. An activist investor is seeking to install its own CEO choice.

JJ Ruest, who has been criticized recently by an activist investor over CN’s attempt to merge with Kansas City Southern, has served CN for more than 25 years and will depart in January or whenever a successor is found.

TCI Fund Management continues to press CN shareholders to install a new CEO and four new board members.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has determined that there is no link between July’s devastating fire in Lytton and sparks coming from CN or Canadian Pacific trains.

Canadian railway CN and shareholder TCI Fund Management are publicly squabbling about who should run the company as CN sets a March meeting date to address TCI’s board candidate picks.

CN and CP unveil their annual winter operational plans, which include expectations that grain shipments will be down this year and that a La Nina event could mean lower winter temperatures for western Canada.

CN is seeking to generate CA$700 million in additional operating income in 2022 through cutting labor and operational costs and seeking pricing opportunities.

Kansas City Southern returns to its old flame and opts to merge with Canadian Pacific. Rival railway CN acknowledges its merger plans have been scrapped.

Major CN shareholder TCI Fund Management wants CN’s board to have more operational experience. The company is also still pushing for the removal of CN’s current CEO.

Kansas City Southern shareholders pushed back a vote on whether to approve CN’s merger agreement to Sept. 24.

Kansas City Southern shareholders must decide whether to continue to pursue merger plans with CN or go with Canadian Pacific.

The Surface Transportation Board rejected CN’s application to establish a voting trust, which would be used as part of the process to acquire Kansas City Southern.

KCS’ board of directors confirmed plans to postpone the shareholder vote on the CN-KCS merger agreement until after the Surface Transportation Board renders a decision on CN’s proposed voting trust.

Although Canadian grain shippers anticipate lower grain harvest volumes for the 2021-2022 crop year, adequate rail service remains a chief concern.

The Association of American Railroads responds to regulator’s inquiry about supply chain congestion, while GoRail advocates for regulation supporting freight rail industry growth.

Kansas City Southern declined Canadian Pacific’s revised bid, opting to stick with CN. But a shareholder vote to approve the CN-KCS merger agreement could be held off if the Surface Transportation Board doesn’t issue its decision on CN’s voting trust by Tuesday.

CP is offering a stock-and-cash “superior proposal” worth an estimated US$31 billion.

Canadian Pacific and CN shattered records for hauling Canadian grain and grain products in the 2020-2021 crop year, which ran from Aug. 1, 2020, to July 31, 2021. More efficient network boosted volumes: CP CP (NYSE: CP) hauled 30.62 million metric tons (MMT), the most in its 140-year history, the railroad said Tuesday. That was […]

Kansas City Southern told its shareholders to focus on the proposed CN-KCS merger transaction and not on Canadian Pacific’s attempts to cast doubt on the merger’s chances of being approved by federal regulators.

SMART-TD must negotiate with Class I railroads on train crew size; Rail Customer Coalition calls on STB to take up reciprocal switching; ASLRRA praises progress on infrastructure bill; and Canadian Pacific urges KCS shareholders to vote against the proposed CN-KCS merger.

Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., doesn’t want federal regulators to approve a voting trust that Canadian railway CN would establish as part of the process to acquire Kansas City Southern.

Customers’ push to manage inventories will support rail volumes in the second half of the year, even though potential headwinds in the form of wildfires, supply chain congestion and COVID-19 loom.

Higher revenues propelled CN’s adjusted net income for the second quarter to grow by 16.5% to CA$1.06 billion.

The reduction in train speeds between Kamloops and Boston Bar is designed to lessen the chances that sparks from a freight train could start a fire amid extreme heat and dry conditions.

Canadian Pacific and CN note the end of the public comment period for CN’s proposed voting trust, which would be used to acquire Kansas City Southern. But in order for regulators to review the voting trust application, the Surface Transportation Board may need to clarify further the parameters for gauging whether a rail merger is in the public interest, some stakeholders say.

Monday is the last day that stakeholders can express their views to the Surface Transportation Board over CN’s proposed voting trust that will be used to acquire KCS. Canadian Pacific says it has the support of North Dakota congressional leaders, while CN touts support from Gulf Coast and southern Plains leaders.

Canadian Pacific and CN each say they have the backing of Upper Midwest grain shippers as both seek to merge with Kansas City Southern.

CN and Canadian Pacific are rounding up support for their respective plans to acquire Kansas City Southern. Regulators are accepting public comments on CN’s voting trust through next Monday. CN would use the voting trust as part of the process to acquire KCS.

About CA$95 million of the CA$3 billion 2021 capital investment budget will go toward projects in Alberta, Ontario, Manitoba and New Brunswick.

CN continues to insist that it has widespread support for its plans to acquire Kansas City Southern. That support includes the voting trust proposal that CN would use as part of the merger process.

The Surface Transportation Board is accepting public comments on CN’s and Kansas City Southern’s voting trust proposal. KCS asserts its financial strength while Canadian Pacific circulates a union’s negative feedback on the CN-KCS merger.

Former Surface Transportation Board Vice Chairman William Clyburn Jr. recommends that STB approve the voting trust proposed by CN and Kansas City Southern.

A trio of shippers groups, CN, Kansas City Southern and Canadian Pacific offer their takes on whether the voting trust associated with the proposed CN-KCS merger is or isn’t in the public interest.

The American Chemistry Council, which represents chemicals shippers, wants the Surface Transportation Board to scrutinize proposed Class I rail mergers to ensure that shippers don’t encounter reduced offerings.

To sweeten the voting trust application before regulators, CN and Kansas City Southern are offering to divest 70 miles of a KCS line in an area of Louisiana where both railroads have competing lines in order to create an “end-to-end” network.

Kansas City Southern has opted for CN’s merger offer. It is terminating an existing merger agreement it has with Canadian Pacific.

Four rail labor groups have banded together to warn regulators about potential post-merger efforts to trim labor costs, while investment banking firm Cowen says regulators’ denial of CN’s voting trust signals that CN will have to make a strong case for its proposed merger.

Canadian Pacific wants Kansas City Southern to reject CN’s competing merger offer. The railway also said it won’t engage in a bidding war.

Following the Surface Transportation Board’s decision on Monday regarding CN’s proposed merger with Kansas City Southern, both CN and Canadian Pacific remained confident that each is the better suitor for KCS.

The Surface Transportation Board has decided that it would review a proposed merger between CN and Kansas City Southern under newer, stricter merger rules. The board also denied for now CN’s request to form a voting trust, saying CN’s application is incomplete.

FreightWaves looks at five themes that ran throughout the earnings discussions of the Class I railroads.

CN revised its bid to acquire KCS; CP said it will not seek to counterbid.

Rivals Canadian Pacific and CN separately submit more statements of support to the Surface Transportation Board in a bid to show which Canadian railway is best suited to merge with Kansas City Southern.

The Surface Transportation Board has approved the voting trust that Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern plan to make as part of the merger process between the two companies.

Billionaire and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, the largest shareholder of Canadian railway CN, is giving 14.1 million shares of the company to soon-to-be ex-wife Melinda Gates.

CN and Canadian Pacific continue to campaign for the hearts and votes of Kansas City Southern stakeholders and the Surface Transportation Board.

Executives with parent company Berkshire Hathaway expect BNSF to take steps to protect the railroad’s franchise as the merger between Kansas City Southern and one of the Canadian railways makes its way through regulatory review.

CN outlined some scenarios in which a merged railway can compete with long-haul trucking.

Canadian railway CN reported net profit of CA$974 million in the first quarter of 2021, a 3.7% decline from the first quarter of 2020.

The Canadian railway CN and Kansas City Southern have agreed to talk about CN’s acquisition bid. Canadian Pacific, which has a competing offer, acknowledges the meeting. CN also submits letters of support from stakeholders to regulators.

The Surface Transportation Board has determined that a waiver that exempted Kansas City Southern from post-2001 merger rules governing rail mergers applies in the proposed merger between KCS and Canadian Pacific.

Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Oregon, chair of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, is concerned that efforts by rival Canadian railways to acquire Kansas City Southern could usher in more consolidations in the freight rail sector.

The Surface Transportation Board will need to scrutinize a proposed merger between Kansas City Southern and either Canadian Pacific or CN to ensure it doesn’t hurt the operations of competing railroads, Union Pacific’s head said on the company’s first-quarter earnings call.

For now, Canadian Pacific is not planning to take part in a bidding war with rival CN to acquire Kansas City Southern, saying that its offer is more likely to meet regulators’ litmus test for mergers.

Canadian Pacific and CN both filed letters to the Surface Transportation Board asking the panel to consider the merits of their competing requests to acquire Kansas City Southern.

CP, which is also seeking to acquire KCS, describes rival CN’s bid to acquire KCS as “massively complex and likely to fail” because it decreases competition.

A merged CN and Kansas City Southern would compete against long-haul trucking for north-south intermodal opportunities, CN said Tuesday.

Not to be outdone by rival Canadian Pacific, CN offers to acquire Kansas City Southern for $33.7 billion.

CN beat its previous March record of 2.74 million metric tons set in 2020, moving 2.95 million metric tons last month.

CN is selling its noncore assets in southern Ontario, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and Wisconsin to Watco.

For the 12th consecutive month, CN hauled a record amount of Canadian grain.

Plans to halt construction of the Keystone XL pipeline will likely mean more crude oil volumes being shipped by rail. But how much more will depend on a variety of factors, including oil price spreads, other pipelines, oil storage options and the railroads’ ability to juggle volumes.

U.S. rail volumes rose 5.3% in January as gains for intermodal, chemicals and grain were enough to offset losses for coal and petroleum products, according to AAR data.

CN expressed confidence that it has the network capacity available to handle more volumes in the second half of 2021. But pandemic uncertainties loom in the first quarter.

CN’s fourth-quarter net income was C$1.02 billion amid a 2% increase in revenue and a 5% decrease in operating expenses.

Acquisitions and record Canadian grain loadings round out rail news

CN has partnered with other organizations to develop a plastics resins export facility in Alabama near the Port of Mobile. The facility will open in late 2021.

CN joins other Class I railroads in courting automotive and container shippers in the Upper Midwest through this latest offering.

Major railways are classified as leaders among thousands of companies that disclosed climate information to the CDP this year.

November was a bright spot for U.S. and Canadian grain carloads.

As a major shareholder of CN and CP, TCI Fund Management has submitted proposals for climate action. TCI also requested shareholder votes on climate plans at yearly meetings.

U.S. carload traffic on a weekly basis was 3.1% lower last week on a year-over-year basis and 1.7% higher sequentially.

A railroad from Mexico’s Port of Mazatlan to Winnipeg, Manitoba, would require enhanced container-handling facilities at both sites.

Exports drive Canada grain volumes higher.

Higher rail volumes continue to be a trend in the fourth quarter, but the pace of volume growth could depend on how the COVID-19 pandemic plays out this winter.

The COVID-19 pandemic continued to put pressure on CN’s volumes in the third quarter.

In today’s edition of The Daily Dash, September saw an increase in truck driver drug test failures; TRATON makes a final offer for Navistar; and Waymo pulls back the curtain on its autonomous technology.

Uber Freight and XPO Freight Logistics LTL are among several new carriers that have joined the FourKites Premier Carrier List, recognizing excellent customer service.

Two Class I railroads select members for their respective boards of directors.

CN and Canadian Pacific say they’ll use communication and technology to grapple with winter’s operational challenges.