Just two years after completing a merger of its own, CPKC officials stated this week that they are not interested in further consolidation of the North American rail network. 

The announcement comes just days after a shareholder group at CSX told its CEO that the railroad should consider merging with either BNSF or CPKC in response to the proposed Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern deal. Earlier this week, BNSF owner Warren Buffett told CNBC that his company was also not interested in a merger. 

“We believe that a transcontinental merger would trigger permanent restructuring of the industry and result in a disproportionately large railway whose size and scope would require others to take action,” said Keith Creel, CPKC President and CEO. “This will likely result in an unnecessary wave of railway mergers that today is not the best way to support American businesses nor the public interest, and has the potential to create more issues than it solves.”

Creel added that CPKC and other railroads should collaborate to find efficiencies without needing mergers. He specifically pointed out partnerships between his railroad and CSX, as well as with CSX and BNSF. 

The back-to-back announcements by BNSF and CPKC suggest that both railroads will vigorously oppose a UP-NS deal. How much that opposition will matter has yet to be determined. On Thursday, U.S. Surface Transportation Board member Robert E. Primus was fired by the Trump administration. The reasoning was unclear, but some believed that Primus’ past stance against mergers (he was the lone vote against the CPKC combination) had something to do with it. Primus had been nominated to the board during Trump’s first term in office. 

—Justin Franz