Illinois grain shipper opposes CN request to force CP and KCS to divest

Springfield Line as part of merger.

Divestiture of line linking Springfield, Ill., and Kansas City would end single-line service to Mexico, shipper tells federal regulators.

A major grain shipper opposes Canadian National’s effort to force Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern to divest the KCS line linking Springfield, Ill., and Kansas City.

Earlier this year CN asked the Surface Transportation Board to condition approval of the CP-KCS merger on divestiture of KCS’s Springfield Line. CN promises to spend at least $250 million to create the Springfield Speedway, a new single-line route linking Kansas City with Detroit and Eastern Canada via the Illinois capital.

But Bartlett Grain Co., which opened a grain loading facility on KCS in Jacksonville, Ill., in 2013, says a divestiture to CN would end the single-line service it currently enjoys for grain shipments to Mexico. The $25 million Jacksonville facility includes a loop track that can accommodate 100-car unit trains.

“Nearly all of our shipments from Jacksonville go to Mexico,” Bartlett President Bob Knief wrote to regulators this week. “We made that investment to support shuttle service to Mexico that is a direct move from origin to destination on KCS.”'>>>

https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/illinois-grain-shipper-opposes-cn-request-to-force-cp-and-kcs-to-divest-springfield-line-as-part-of-merger/?