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Wall Street Journal: NS, CP chief execs talk about merger
NO!!! no no no donn,t do NS please!!! i doun,t want to lose seeing our steamrs and history!!! we got such a good thing going. if you merge with cp that good thing may die!!! CAN WE REALLY LOSE 611 4501 630 AND MANY OTHERS? I DON,T WANT TO.
please don’t let this happen.
As of now, this combination offers more questions than answers.
First is Why? In a rail merger isn’t the object is to either reduce cost by eliminating duplicate facilities or to capture longer hauls (more revenue)? I don’t see this. They don’t overlap in the area (they meet at only a hand full of points) leaving few facilities the eliminate. As a percentage of interchange NS & CP don’t interchange much traffic. If (and that is a BIG IF), I see a merger with UP or BNSF. That would be much better for NS.
Where would the Railroad be headquartered? Don’t think it would be in the US. Doesn’t Canada require that the 2 major Rail companies be headquartered in that country?
Only possible reason for this merger (that I can believe), is to make a combination that would be more equal with one of the big western carriers. BNSF and UP are too big(expensive) for NS to take over. A NS/CP combination would make it’s size and valuation closer to that of the 2 big western systems. THAT kind of merger would more or less be a combination of equals. Even then, I think UP or BNSF would still be the team in control.
I hope Squires realizes who he dealing with!
Perhaps EHH is using the same tactic as a magician…distract with one hand while the other hand is doing the actual trick. So if the NS were a distraction, what move by the CP would make sense?
EHH, hit the road!
Dennis I wouldn’t wish EHH on anyone but I think KCS would be the best fit.
Interesting that CP waited until Wick Moorman stepped down before announcing this (if, in fact, that’s the case).
It seems as if CP is desperate to do something to allow them to compete better with CN. This is going to go about as well for CP as it did when they tried to do this last year with CSX.
The sooner CPR gets rid of Harrison the better. His empire-building is not in the railway’s interest and certainly not in Canada’s interest. Trying to take over a US railroad which is bigger than the CPR is as absurd as Hitler invading Russia. Americans (including Harrison) don’t understand the reason the CPR was built or its iconic significance for Canadians. It is not a toy for Harrison to play with. No Canadian government could ever allow this to happen.
Merging with CPR will be the only survival mode for NS. Get on with it and ignore the temporary pols in charge in the US and Canada.
The ‘new’ Canadian Government is led by a drama teacher who is not up to the job. The US may note the same result over its past 6+years.
Merger craziness good for those who participate and bad for everybody else.
Amazing how some folks can inject their irrelevant personal political leanings into any forum whatsoever. When all is said and done, I don’t think seeing CP red and a beaver over Horseshoe is gonna happen. Perhaps some kind of alliance such as airlines have with foreign carriers is more likely. It’s one thing to have the former Illinois Central in the hands of CN, but CP control of NS is another matter entirely.
I hope this is not becoming a pattern for NS…
…As in every other CEO comes in and eliminates all the fan friendly goodwill created by his / her predecessor. It was nice to say “Goode-Bye” to David Goode who flushed the NS steam program. Leave it to a lawyer.
You would think a merger would be the other way around with NS courting CP. If I were NS and decided it was a good idea, I would go for a 50/50 merger. (From a railfan perspective, I do not want NS to go away)
Hunter Harrison is a Wolf in Sheep’s clothing, a true scoundrel. This would be a very bad deal for NS, they should walk away from CP.
I hope NS avoids the merger. What is Hunter Harrison thinking? Hunter is hunting NS. We surely never want another Penn Central.