NORTH AMERICA: The formal merger of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern on April 14 was marked with the driving of a ceremonial spike in Kansas City, Missouri, at the only place where the two constituent railways meet.
‘Today we celebrate this historic combination creating a truly unique single-line rail network that begins a new chapter of railroad history in North America’, said Canadian Pacific Kansas City President & CEO Keith Creel.
Calgary-headquartered CPKC is the smallest of the six Class I freight railways by revenue, but the first to connect Canada, the USA and Mexico. It has a network of around 30 000 km and employs almost 20 000 people. Full integration of CP and KCS is expected to take three years.
‘We stand ready to bring new competition into the North American rail industry at a time when our supply chains have never needed it more’, said Creel.
‘This unmatched CPKC network will give our customers new options and expanded reach to more markets as we provide reliable rail service, take trucks off public roads and raise the bar on rail safety by expanding CP’s industry-leading safety practices.’
CP completed its US$31bn acquisition of KCS on December 14 2021, but the KCS shares were placed into a voting trust to ensure independent operation pending regulatory approval, which was completed with US Surface Transportation Board clearance on March 15 2023.
The voting trustee has now transferred the KCS shares to an affiliate of CP, formally bringing KCS into CPKC.
