By Justin Franz
Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern officially merged on Friday, creating a new Class I railroad dubbed “Canadian Pacific Kansas City.”
The merger of the two railroads comes more than two years after CP’s acquisition of KCS was first proposed and just one month after the U.S. Surface Transportation Board approved the deal. It also reshapes the North American rail map, which on Friday went from seven Class Is to six.
On Friday morning, a “final spike” ceremony was scheduled to take place in Kansas City, as well as a groundbreaking for the railroad’s new dispatch center there.
“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 CPKC President and Chief Executive Officer Keith Creel. “As we mark this once-in-a-lifetime occasion by driving the Final Spike in Kansas City, where CP and KCS come together, 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.”
On Thursday, the final day that CP and KCS were independent railroads, signs of change could be found across the system. At yards from British Columbia to the Midwest, “CP” signs were replaced with “CPKC” ones. A new logo was also released: A modified version of the CP’s golden beaver shield with a bold red “CPKC” at the bottom. The reporting marks of all three railroads (CP, KCS and KCSM for Kansas City Southern de Mexico) were also incorporated into the shield. While CP and KCS’s websites remained up, both directed visitors to the new CPKC.com. The railroad also announced that starting next week, the railroad would appear on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges as CUSIP.
The big question many railroad enthusiasts have been asking — would there be a new paint scheme on CPKC locomotives — had not been answered by Friday morning. But if the logos, website and other branding were any indication, a new paint scheme would likely be a spin on the current CP brand.