PALM BEACH, Fla. — Canadian Pacific Kansas City CEO Keith Creel disagrees with Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena’s contention that the UP-Norfolk Southern merger will be a slam dunk in Washington.
“I don’t think it’s a fait accompli. I do not,” Creel told an investor conference on Tuesday. “People are grossly underestimating the complexity of what UP and NS are attempting to do.”
The $85 billion deal to create the first transcontinental railroad in the U.S. will face a significantly higher regulatory burden than the 2023 Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger, Creel says, because it will face the Surface Transportation Board’s tougher and untested 2001 merger review rules…