House transport chair comes out against proposed Canadian Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger

Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) said in a statement today that he does not believe a merger between Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) and U.S. rail Norfolk Southern Corp. (NS).

"[A]fter looking at the merits of the current proposal to merge with Norfolk Southern, I do not believe it is in the best interests of the U.S. freight transportation system, railroad employees, rail shippers, and the short line railroads," he said in the statement. Shuster said he had "closely followed" CP's merger activity for several years. That activity included not only three rejected offers to buy NS, but an unsuccessful attempt two years ago to merge with CSX Corp.

"CP's pursuit of a merger over the last two years has done nothing but create uncertainty in the rail industry, and there continues to be no clear path forward for such an arrangement," Shuster said in the statement. "I have expressed my concerns to the appropriate federal agency, and I believe it is time for all parties to move on from hypothetical merger proposals and focus on improving the transportation of goods and products to help grow the American economy."