BNSF, CN Plan Merger
The largest railroad in Canada and the second-biggest in the United States announced a $6 billion merger plan that would crown a new king in North American rail freight transportation with a stock market valuation in excess of $19 billion.
Under the plan unveiled last week, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. and the Canadian National Railway Corp. would merge into a new, Canadian-based entity, although BNSF's stockholders would own about two-thirds of the company.
pproved by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board and its Canadian counterpart, and that it is likely to face opposition from shippers and other railroads.
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Despite claims by executives of both railroads that the new company, to be called North American Railways, would take back freight from the highways, industry experts said they don't expect the deal to have a direct effect on trucking.
Among the factors that muddy the picture are that the merger must be
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