Railroad history - Conrail, it isn't quite dead

[Astronuc]

Railroad history is one of my hobbies and somewhat of a passion. Like some people have favorite sports teams, I have favorite railroads, all of which are fallen-flags, i.e., they no longer exist.

Conrail grew out of the ashes of the largest bankruptcy at the time involving the Penn Central Transportation Company (formed by the ill-fated merger of the Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting marks PRR) and the New York Central Railroad (reporting marks NYC), and subsequently the New York, New Haven and Hartford (NH) Railroad).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_Central_Transportation_Company
Interesting story - Daughen, Joseph R. & Peter Binzen (1999). The Wreck of the Penn Central (2nd edition). Boston: Beard Books Little, Brown. ISBN 1-893122-08-5.

Anyway, Conrail was a government-owned corporation until 1987, when it was privatized. "The Federal Government created Conrail to take over the potentially-profitable lines of multiple bankrupt carriers, including the Penn Central Transportation Company and Erie Lackawanna Railway. After railroad regulations were lifted by the 4R Act and the Staggers Act, Conrail began to turn a profit in the 1980s and was privatized in 1987. The two remaining Class I railroads in the East, CSX Transportation and the Norfolk Southern Railway (NS), agreed in 1997 to acquire the system and split it into two roughly-equal parts (alongside three residual shared-assets areas), returning rail freight competition to the Northeast by essentially undoing the 1968 merger of the Pennsylvania Railroad and New York Central Railroad that created Penn Central. Following approval by the Surface Transportation Board, CSX and NS took control in August 1998, and on June 1, 1999, began operating their respective portions of Conrail."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrail

Recently, I've encountered Conrail Shared Assets trains, and I didn't quite understand it, and then I discovered Conrail Shared Assets Operations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrail_Shared_Assets_Operations
https://www.conrail.com/system-map/

CSX is perhaps the weaker of the two partners. Recently, CSX has agreed to buy Pan Am Railways in New England. Pan Am is what used to be the Guilford Rail System, itself a combination of the Boston & Maine, Maine Central, Portland Terminal Company and Springfield Terminal Railway.
https://www.csx.com/index.cfm/about...sx-to-acquire-pan-am-railways-in-new-england/
https://www.railwayage.com/regulatory/definitive-csx-acquiring-pan-am-railways/

The CSX acquisition is complicated by the interest that Norfolk Southern (NS) has in the Pan Am Southern system.

Railroads are complicated legal entities, since they are both a transportation and real estate company. Current Class I railroads are the result of many mergers over the passed 60 years, and even the main (Class I) railroads were complicated mergers and acquisitions so smaller entities over the past 180 years. One has to go back to state and federal charters and grants to find out how complex railroads are as corporations.

Background on many current and historical railroads can be found at - https://www.american-rails.com/

 

[jedishrfu]

The one historical railroad story I know is the deal Rockefeller struck with oil delivery where he paid less and his competitors paid more basically paying for his transport of oil barrels.

https://www.crf-usa.org/bill-of-rig...ockefeller-and-the-standard-oil-monopoly.html

more on rockefeller

 

[Astronuc]

CALGARY — Canadian Pacific will buy Kansas City Southern in a cash and stock transaction worth approximately $29 billion, CP has confirmed. Financial Times first reported the story Saturday night.

In an announcement posted Sunday morning, CP said the deal has the approval of both boards of directors, and confirms the previously reported price valuing KCS at $275 per share, representing a 23% premium on KCS’s closing stock price on Friday.

https://www.trains.com/trn/news-rev...to-buy-kansas-city-southern-news-report-says/
https://www.trains.com/trn/canadian...uthern-merger-to-redraw-class-i-railroad-map/

There are now 7 Class I railroads in the US, but there will be only 6 once CP takes control of KCS.

As of 2016, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) defines a Class I as having operating revenues of, or exceeding, $453 million annually.

https://www.american-rails.com/class.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railroad_classes

https://railroads.dot.gov/rail-network-development/freight-rail-overview

CP's larger Canadian rival, Canadian National (CN) acquired the old Illinois Central Gulf back in 1996-1998, and fully integrated it in 1999.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1998-02-11-9802110374-story.html


Update:
Big Railroad Deal Seen More Likely to Gain Regulators' OK
https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2021-03-22/big-railroad-deal-seen-more-likely-to-gain-regulators-ok

Canadian Pacific’s proposed $25 billion acquisition of Kansas City Southern would be the first major railroad merger since the 1990s, but analysts say this deal has a better chance of success than past failed ones because there is little overlap between the two railroads.

It's basically an end-to-end merger at Kansas City, Mo, with KCS serving south to Louisiana, Texas and Mexico, and CP serving north up to Canada.

 

[Astronuc]

Canadian National is offering to buy Kansas City Southern for $33.7 billion, topping a $25 billion bid from rival Canadian Pacific.

Shares of Kansas City Southern (KSU) surged more than 15% Tuesday on the news. Canadian National (CNI) fell nearly 7% while Canadian Pacific was down about 2%.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/20/inve...hern-canadian-national-bidding-war/index.html
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...rivalry-flares-up-now-over-a-30-billion-prize

Further east, up in New England, CSX is planning to absorb Pan Am Railways (formerly Guilford Transportation), which operates Springfield Terminal, Boston & Maine, Maine Central, Pan Am Southern and Portland Terminal. Pan Am Southern is a joint venture with Norfolk Southern (NS), the principal rival of CSX, so some deal will have to be made.

https://www.railwayage.com/news/an-insiders-view-of-the-pan-am-railways-sale/
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/702165/000100329708000108/ex992l.htm
https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2018/01/26/2018PubComm_1.pdf

 

[hutchphd]

Railroad history is one of my hobbies and somewhat of a passion. Like some people have favorite sports teams, I have favorite railroads, all of which are fallen-flags, i.e., they no longer exist.

In the late 1970's, I several times joyfully rode the Southern Crescent round trip to DC from Charlottesville. It would roll through Charlottesville at 6 am : and get you to DC in time to do a day's business while it went on to NYC. The return south left DC at 5:00pm(?) so I could eat fried chicken and peas (served on linen tablecloths with real cutlery) while passing frustrated rush hour drivers at every crossing. That was fabulous fun. Of course the wait staff was almost entirely elderly black men and the experience was clearly borrowed from a different and not entirely idyllic era. But it is a lovely memory. It went Amtrak shortly there after

 

[Dr.D]

In the early 2000s, I used to ride the Accela from Philadelphia to DC with some frequency. That was when it was thought safe to operate at high speed, roughly 150 mph. Later, after some sort of failure, they cut the speed and it was just about like any other train ride.

 

[Astronuc]

I've taken Amtrak between NY City, or Newark Airport, and Washington DC, rather than fly. In DC, I've used the DC Metro, or walk. Taking the train saves a couple of hours waiting at the airport and getting through security.

I've considered taking Accela, between NY City and Wash DC, but the difference in schedule/time didn't justify the higher cost.

 

[jedishrfu]

Years ago, I loved taking the train from Schenectady to NYC. It was a scenic ride on some spots and then a desolate ride as you entered NYC. Grand Central was an amazing place and it was easy to get lost trying to find the right subway platform.

It was also a good time to read a book, since there were no iPods, iPhones, or iPads around. Transistor radios would have to be retuned as you lost stations. But the book remained as the best source of long term distraction.

The one downside for me was the train always took a break in Albany for 30 to 40 minutes and you felt you were never getting to where you wanted to go. Later, I would drive to Albany and take the train from there to skip that time.

 

[Dr.D]

Back in the early 2000s, my wife and I took the train from Philly to Durham, NC, to visit our grandchildren. This was supposed to be about a 10 hour trip as I recall. Somewhere south of DC, the train was stopped, and we never got a real good explanation. Something was said about a truck broken down at a grade crossing. That added about 3 hours, making this a very, very long trip in a chair car. Not much fun!

 

[Astronuc]

Kansas City Southern in talks on dueling rail takeover bids
As deal talks begin, Canadian National railroad says it is receiving broad support for its $33.7 billion bid to buy Kansas City Southern
https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wir...ern-talks-dueling-rail-takeover-bids-77320144

CN's north-south line, the old Illinois Central Gulf (ICG) is parallel with KCS and is somewhat redundant. Geographically, the CP-KCS merger makes more sense, as it would provide more competition.

CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue and the physical size of its rail network, spanning Canada from the Atlantic coast in Nova Scotia to the Pacific coast in British Columbia across approximately 20,400 route miles (32,831 km) of track.[1] In the late 20th century, CN gained extensive capacity in the United States by taking over such railroads as the Illinois Central. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_National_Railway)
https://www.cn.ca/en/our-services/maps-and-network/

The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) (reporting marks CP, CPAA, MILW, SOO), known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996 and simply Canadian Pacific, is a historic Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, it owns approximately 20,100 kilometres (12,500 mi) of track in six provinces of Canada and into the United States, stretching from Montreal to Vancouver, and as far north as Edmonton. Its rail network also serves Minneapolis–St. Paul, Milwaukee, Detroit, Chicago, and Albany, New York in the United States. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Pacific_Railway)

CP took over Soo Line (SOO), which had taken over remnants of the bankrupt Milwaukee Road (MILW). CP had also taken over the former Delaware & Hudson (DH) in New York, and operates it as part of Soo Line. The old D&H had been part of Guilford Transportation Industries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soo_Line_Railroad
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delaware_and_Hudson_Railway

 

[Astronuc]

https://apnews.com/article/keith-cr...ichael-brown-e1897227e4c846d9bb24556dcd1fb408
OMAHA, Neb. (AP, April 22, 2021) — Canadian National is defending its $33.7 billion bid to buy Kansas City Southern railroad against attacks from rival bidder Canadian Pacific.

A day after CP’s CEO Keith Creel dismissed Canadian National’s proposal as “fool’s gold” because he doesn’t believe it will be approved by regulators, Canadian National sought to reassure investors that its plan could be approved just as easily as CP’s earlier $25 billion offer.

This will probably get dragged out.

I had forgotten about the proposed merger between BNSF and CN back in 1999.

BNSF announced its intent to merge with Canadian National on December 20, 1999, creating a 50,000-mile rail network. In response, the Surface Transportation Board imposed a 15-month moratorium on rail mergers on March 17, 2000, in order to rethink the rules under which future merger proposals would be evaluated. As a result, BNSF and CN called off their proposed merger on July 20, 2000.

https://www.trains.com/trn/train-ba...n-northern-santa-fe-llc-profile-bnsf-railway/

 

[Astronuc]

Jean-Jacques Ruest and Patrick Ottensmeyer, CEOs of CN and KCS, respectively
Rail merger is a key to economic growth, supply chain security
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/rail-merger-is-a-key-to-economic-growth-supply-chain-security/ar-AALoVMM?li=BBnb7Kz

The headline is an overstatement. They can already do runthroughs, which railroads did before end-to-end mergers. A merger of KCS with CP would do the same.

CN operates from the Canadian border to New Orleans via the old Illinois Central Gulf (a merger between Illinois Central and Gulf, Mobile and Ohio). KCS runs parallel with the ICG line for much of the distance.

CN is interested in a seamless (under one company) line between Canada and Mexico through the gateway which KCS in Texas would provide.

If successful, the CN-KCS combined network would help relieve the chronic shortages of long-haul truck drivers and reduce the carbon footprint of long-haul truck traffic heading up and down Interstates 35, 55 and 94 between Mexico, Texas and the Midwest.

That could be happening now. It hasn't happened.

We have calculated that for a single route, from San Luis Potosi, Mexico, to Detroit, Mich., moving freight from trucks to trains would save 260,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year, the equivalent of the average annual emissions of more than 300 long-haul trucks. Multiply that across multiple routes and years, and the impact would be significant.

This is true, IF shippers move to rail transport from truck. This doesn't require a merger - just good economic practice.

CN's proposal - https://www.railwayage.com/freight/cn-counters-cpkc-with-a-superior-proposal/

 

[pbuk]

I have now misread this thread's title on three separate occasions as "Railroad history - Cornwall, it isn't quite dead". Each time I was worried as I'm quite attached to the journey between Plymouth and Penzance, and on the few other remaining lines in the county.

 

[Tom.G]

I have now misread this thread's title on three separate occasions as "Railroad history - Cornwall, it isn't quite dead". Each time I was worried as I'm quite attached to the journey between Plymouth and Penzance, and on the few other remaining lines in the county.

Sounds like you need some Contact Cleaner on your neural circuits.

 

[hutchphd]

Personally I use mental floss daily. Removes any plaque buildup.

 

[Astronuc]

I have now misread this thread's title on three separate occasions as "Railroad history - Cornwall, it isn't quite dead". Each time I was worried as I'm quite attached to the journey between Plymouth and Penzance, and on the few other remaining lines in the county.

Apparently the Cornish Main Line (part of the Great Western Railway) is doing well with vacationers and commuters to and from Penzance and points in between Penzance and Plymouth.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornish_Main_Line

One can even take a train from London Paddington to Penzance.

 

[Astronuc]

WASHINGTON — For the third time since February, CSX Transportation has filed an application with the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to acquire New England’s Pan Am Railways.

On Friday, the railroad announced it had submitted an “amended and supplemented application” to the STB in an effort to convince the federal regulator that the proposed transaction would be good for shippers and passengers alike. CSX first submitted its plan to acquire Pan Am back in February but a month later it was rejected after the board deemed it would be a “significant” transaction. In April, CSX filed a 478-page amended application. But in May, the board said that was not enough either and that the new application didn’t have a “market analysis” looking at how the deal might impact the New England rail network.

On the same day that CSX submitted its revised application to the STB, it also launched a new website, nefreightrail.com, to convince the public of the merits of the combination.

https://railfan.com/third-times-a-charm-csx-tries-again-to-acquire-pan-am/

Late last year, CSX announced that it would purchase Pan Am for an undisclosed amount of money. As part of the proposed plan, Genesee & Wyoming would operate Pan Am Southern — a joint venture between Pan Am and Norfolk Southern — and NS will get trackage rights over CSX’s Boston Line so that it can move double-stack trains to Ayer, Mass. The new G&W line would be called Berkshire & Eastern. CSX would operate the railroad east of Ayer, Mass., into New Hampshire and Maine.

Ayer, MA is ENE/NE of Boston between Fitchburg and Lowell. The line between Boston and Albany used to be a mainline of the old Boston & Maine (BM) Railroad, which ran more or less parallel (and in competition) with the Boston & Albany (BA) Railroad, which ran through the southern part of Massachusetts. BM was folded into the Guilford System during 1983, and Guilford Transportation was rebranded Pan Am Railways in March 2006.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_and_Maine_Corporation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_and_Albany_Railroad
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Railways

https://www.ayer.ma.us/edc/railroads/pages/new-england-freight-railroad-hub

 

[mathwonk]

I have told this many times, probably here as well, but my dad ran away from home in about 1906 and joined first the circus and then the railroad, probably the L&N, Louisville and Nashville. He was once stalked on his train by an infamous local gunman seeking revenge for his witness testimony in a trial. My dad got behind the gunman but sympathetically called out to him rather than shoot him in the back, which was a nearly fatal choice. The gunman got off the first shot but my dad was more accurate, at least wounding his assailant and knocking him off the train. At his death, my dad unfortunately left unfinished his intended book "Fifty years on the railroad".

I try to attach a photo of him in about 1910-1920 in front of one of the circus wagons. This looks like a horse drawn wagon although I assumed the fact that circuses traveled by train was the entree for my dad to that life.

 

[Astronuc]

UPDATE 2-U.S. regulator rejects Canadian National's voting trust to buy Kansas City Southern
https://www.reuters.com/article/kc-...ust-to-buy-kansas-city-southern-idUSL4N2Q23VE

Aug 31 (Reuters) - The U.S. Surface Transportation Board (STB) on Tuesday rejected a voting trust proposed by Canadian National Railway Co for its $29 billion deal to buy U.S. railroad operator Kansas City Southern.
. . . .
Passenger railroad Amtrak, which is majority owned by the U.S. government, had opposed the Canadian National’s voting trust, saying its pledge to divest the Baton Rouge to New Orleans line will harm future passenger service in Louisiana.

CP Rail has challenged the merger on anti-competition grounds. The point is valid to some extent, particularly in the Chicago-New Orleans corridor, where CN-KCS would dominate.

In a similar, but unrelated matter, NS, AMTRAK and the state of Vermont have issue with the CSX acquisition of Pan Am Railways. NS is concern about competition and access, as is the state of Vermont. AMTRAK is concerned about passenger routes and the ability to expand service.

https://www.nhbr.com/amtrak-faults-csx-acquisition-of-pan-am-as-a-significant-threat/
https://www.trains.com/trn/news-rev...rs-to-impose-conditions-on-csx-pan-am-merger/
https://www.railwayage.com/regulatory/vermont-rail-system-contests-pan-am-sale/

and CP Rail takes exception to the CSX-PanAm merger
https://www.trains.com/trn/news-rev...r-threatens-viability-of-hoosac-tunnel-route/

 

[Astronuc]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Kansas City Southern is inching toward making Canadian Pacific its merger partner.
https://www.trains.com/trn/news-rev...ard-a-merger-agreement-with-canadian-pacific/

KCS said today that it will begin merger discussions with CP after its board unanimously determined that CP’s Aug. 10 bid could be deemed superior to the agreement it reached with Canadian National in May.

The U.S. Surface Transportation Board’s Aug. 31 ruling that denied CN’s request to put KCS into an independent voting trust threw a monkey wrench into a proposed CN-KCS merger. The board’s ruling also set a high bar for Class I mergers – except for a tie-up involving CP and KCS, whose voting trust proposal received the STB’s blessing in May.

About the only way for the CN-KCS merger to work from a regulatory standpoint (i.e., competition) would be for CN to cede the old Illinois Central (IC, formerly Illinois Central Gulf, formed by merger of old IC and Gulf, Mobile and Ohio (GM&O)) to CP. Canadian National Railway acquired control of the IC in 1998.

On August 10, 1972, the Illinois Central Railroad merged with the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad to form the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad (reporting mark ICG).
Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois_Central_Railroad#Illinois_Central_Gulf_Railroad_(1972–1988)

At the end of 1980 ICG operated 8,366 miles of railroad on 13,532 miles of track; that year it reported 33,276 million ton-miles of revenue freight and 323 million passenger-miles. Later in that decade, the railroad spun off most of its east–west lines and many of its redundant north–south lines, including much of the former GM&O. Most of these lines were bought by other railroads, including entirely new railroads such as the Chicago, Missouri and Western Railway, Paducah and Louisville Railway, Chicago Central and Pacific Railroad and MidSouth Rail Corporation.

In 1988 the railroad's then-parent company IC Industries spun off its remaining rail assets and changed its name to the Whitman Corporation.
. . .
On February 29, 1988, the newly separated ICG dropped the "Gulf" from its name and again became the Illinois Central Railroad.

With the consolidation of the Class I railroads, there has been some consideration/speculation of a final round, e.g, UP+NS and BNSF+CSX, leaving two main Class Is, besides the Canadian-based CN and CP. That would leave all the regional and shortline roads, which operate what were marginal lines/operations of the old, now defunct Class Is.

 

[Astronuc]

AP News - Kansas City Southern picks Canadian Pacific bid for railroad (tentative)
https://apnews.com/article/business...-keith-creel-c48d891480ab6c3dc16b735d2da70566

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City Southern has decided that a $31 billion bid from Canadian Pacific is the best of two offers on the table to buy the railroad.

The Kansas City, Missouri, company said in a statement Sunday that it has notified rival bidder Canadian National that it intends to terminate a merger agreement and make a deal with Canadian Pacific.

But it’s not final yet. Canadian National still has five business days to negotiate amendments to its offer, and the Kansas City Southern board could determine that a revised CN offer is better.

It's not Conrail, or successors Norfolk Southern (NS) or CSX, but it does reduce the 7 Class I railroads to 6 in the US, two being CP and CN based in Canada.

 

[Astronuc]

Record flooding in British Columbia cuts rail service and some highway service.
https://www.railwayage.com/freight/...ng-cuts-vancouver-off-from-rail-road-service/

Both the CN and Canadian Pacific main lines along the Fraser River are out of service and will require heavy reconstruction of bridges and railbeds. Vancouver, the country’s biggest port, is closed. Coal mined from the Rocky Mountains is piling up at loading terminals along the Continental Divide. Potash unit trains are backed up at mines in Saskatchewan. The Prairie grain harvest, which should be flowing West at peak seasonal volumes, is constrained to CN’s northerly route from Edmonton to Canada’s secondary Pacific port, Prince Rupert.

https://apnews.com/article/floods-c...s-bill-blair-4bd5890783b92642ceb527cee5d0f7bf

https://www.accuweather.com/en/severe-weather/death-toll-climbs-following-catastrophic-flooding-in-british-columbia/1049096

 

[jtbell]

Record flooding in British Columbia cuts rail service and some highway service.
https://www.railwayage.com/freight/...ng-cuts-vancouver-off-from-rail-road-service/

Both the CN and Canadian Pacific main lines along the Fraser River are out of service and will require heavy reconstruction of bridges and railbeds. Vancouver, the country’s biggest port, is closed.

In May 2004, I rode VIA Rail's Canadian from Edmonton to Vancouver. It was delayed for several hours by a blizzard (!) in Manitoba, so it went through the Fraser River canyon in early morning instead of dark of night.

The CN and CP run along opposite sides of the river. Approaching Vancouver, the canyon widens into a broad valley, and the river correspondingly widens. I suppose this is where the flooding happened.

 

[Astronuc]

Approaching Vancouver, the canyon widens into a broad valley, and the river correspondingly widens. I suppose this is where the flooding happened.

Flooding happened at a couple of locations. Abbotsford, in the broad valley was one location. The other location was further east or east-northeast near Haig and Hope where the Fraser turns westward from flowing south.

 

[Astronuc]

AP News - Kansas City Southern picks Canadian Pacific bid for railroad (tentative)
https://apnews.com/article/business...-keith-creel-c48d891480ab6c3dc16b735d2da70566

CPR press release - https://www.cpr.ca/en/media/canadia...-create-only-single-line-rail-network-linking

I went and found the application submittal to the Surface Transportation Board.
Warning: Large 1 GB file, 4243 pages - https://dcms-external.s3.amazonaws.com/DCMS_External_PROD/1635796798218/303143.pdf

Date: 10/29/2021, Docket: FD_36500, Filing: 303143

Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, Kansas City Southern Application
CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY LIMITED; CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY COMPANY; SOO LINE RAILROAD COMPANY; CENTRAL MAINE & QUEBEC RAILWAY US INC.; DAKOTA, MINNESOTA & EASTERN RAILROAD CORPORATION; AND DELAWARE & HUDSON RAILWAY COMPANY, INC. – CONTROL – KANSAS CITY SOUTHERN, THE KANSAS CITY SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY, GATEWAY EASTERN RAILWAY COMPANY, AND THE TEXAS MEXICAN RAILWAY COMPANY

Of course, BNSF and CN have already objected to the application, and yesterday, UP added its objections.
https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/bnsf-and-cn-raise-issues-over-cp-kcs-merger/

Many observers believe the objections are really about the looming competition in some regions where the respective railroads hold a near monopoly, or great advantage over any competition. The Class I railroads abandoned or sold off marginal routes/lines to regional or shortline railroads, which are more or less captive to the larger railroads, so there really isn't much competition. CP wants to aggressively grow, and a merger with KCS makes the most sense, since it is an end-to-end merger with little, if any, redundancy.

 

[BWV]

Good article on the importance of railways in Germany losing WW2.

Despite the uneven development of the network, the USSR had some of the most intensively used track in the world: In 1930 it had 1,738,000 ton-km per km compared to 1,608,000 for the United States. This was achieved by running the railway at a low uniform speed (29 km/hour in 1934), which eliminated delays from trains overtaking one another, reduced track wear, and allowed large numbers of trains to be run on the same stretch of track with primitive signaling. The low axle loading of engines (Э class 17 tonnes 28) and wagons (1934 — 15-tonne load for a two-axle wagon) allowed them to travel around most of the network, and their low load carrying was mitigated by using longer trains. All of these characteristics were ideal for operating railways in areas of military operations.

…

In the dark days of 1941, there remains one significant Soviet victory, and it was won by the NKPS (Narodnyi Kommissariat Putei Soobshchenia (NKPS; People’s Commissariat of Means of Communication) over the Ostheer. Due to the size of the country, in Russia mobility at the operational level could only be provided by railways, and by denying it to the Wehrmacht and using it effectively itself, the NKPS ensured that the Soviet Union would survive the onslaught. Once it had recovered from the initial shock of invasion, the railwaymen set about evacuating the motive power before it fell into the hands of the Germans: In total they lost around 2,000 locomotives, many of which were unserviceable, out of a total fleet of 24,20066 (1938). At Odessa, a floating dock was filled with track and locomotives driven into it before the dock was towed out to sea, while few of the German’s encirclements contained much rolling stock. The Soviets would lose around 40 percent of their network while losing 15 percent of the motive power, which meant that for the rest of the war they would have an abundance, especially as the wartime economy required less traffic, due to a switch to freight away from passenger traffic. This allowed the simultaneous evacuation of the great cities by millions of Soviet citizens and the war industries’ move to the Urals. However, the key factor in keeping the Soviet Union fighting was its ability to raise new divisions, and this was only possible if the NKPS could gather up the men from the farthest reaches of the Union, deliver them to the depots and then onto the front; at the same time in late 1941, it was transporting the Far Eastern armies to the west. At a time when the German Ostheer was withering away from a lack of replacements, the NKPS was moving millions of men for the Red Army in the other direction, over a network that the Germans were dismissing as old-fashioned and ramshackled.

Germany on the other hand, executed most of its railroad management professionals as they were disproportionately Jewish and continued through the war to allocate scarce rail resources to feed the extermination camps

https://www.hgwdavie.com/blog/2018/...y-operations-in-the-russo-german-war-19411945