CP: CN Line Divestiture ‘Doesn’t Come Close’ May 27, 2021 Canadian Pacific President and CEO (and Railway Age 2021 Railroader of the Year) Keith Creel. The war of words between Canadian Pacific and CN isn’t over, with CP on May 27 issuing a statement that its merger rival’s commitment to divest Kansas City Southern’s New Orleans-Baton Rouge line is a “token divestment [that] would not begin to address the competitive issues in the rail corridors running north from Louisiana and Mississippi through America’s heartland, where KCS and CN have historically competed.” “CN’s commitment to divest this 70-mile line is clear recognition by CN that it and KCS have always been head-to-head competitors, contrary to CN’s repeated claims that the combination was ‘end-to-end,’” CP said. “CN’s commitment does not come close to solving the anti-competitive problems inherent in the proposed CN/KCS transaction. In particular, it does not address many shippers and stations that are today served by both KCS and CN in markets like Omaha/Council Bluffs; Jackson, Miss.; Springfield, Ill.; and St. Louis. It does not address geographic competition between CN and KCS in numerous areas where each [railroad] competes to handle similar commodities to/from different shippers, terminals, and transloads in the same region. And it does not address the impact a CN/KCS combination would have on customer access to CP routes serving the Upper Midwest and Canada. Rail customers in all of these situations likely would see reduced competitive options as well as reduced service quality and infrastructure investments as a result of the CN transaction.