STB Releases, Seeks Comments on Proposed CP-KCS Merger Proceeding Schedule

Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
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The Surface Transportation Board (STB) has released a procedural schedule for the proposed transaction creating Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) and is inviting public comment.

STB on Nov. 1 issued a decision (download below) providing notice of its proposed schedule, which has been set to allow “sufficient time for the submission and review of evidence and arguments, as well as careful consideration of the merits” of the potential Canadian Pacific (CP) and Kansas City Southern (KCS) merger. Written comments on the schedule are due by Nov. 12, 2021. The move follows the railroads’ Oct. 29 filing of their merger application.

STB reported that its schedule—which modifies one submitted by CP and KCS “[g]iven the high level of interest in this [merger] proceeding, as well as the complexity and magnitude of issues that may potentially arise”—includes dates for comments to the CP-KCS application, the filing of responsive applications, the submission of final briefs, and other procedures. The schedule also “provides that the Board will decide in a subsequent decision whether to conduct a public hearing, which would be held on a date following the submission of final briefs,” STB said. (Final brief submission is slated to take place July 1, 2022, or 245 days after the Oct. 29 merger application filing date.)

Following is STB’s proposed schedule:

• Oct. 29, 2021: Primary application and any related application(s) filed.
• Nov. 28, 2021 (30 days after CP-KCS merger application filing): Board notice of acceptance of primary application and any related application(s) to be published in the Federal Register.
• Dec. 13, 2021 (45 days after CP-KCS merger application filing): Notices of intent to participate due.
• Dec. 28, 2021 (60 days after CP-KCS merger application filing): Proposed Safety Integration Plan (SIP) due.
• Jan. 12, 2022 (75 days after CP-KCS merger application filing): Descriptions of anticipated responsive, including inconsistent, applications due. Petitions for waiver or clarification with respect to such applications due.
• Jan. 27, 2022 (90 days after CP-KCS merger application filing): Comments (including from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), if any), protests, requests for conditions, and any other evidence and argument in opposition to the primary application or any related application(s) due.
• Feb. 21, 2022 (115 days after CP-KCS merger application filing): Responsive environmental information and environmental verified statements for responsive, including inconsistent, applicants due.
• Feb. 26, 2022 (120 days after CP-KCS merger application filing): Responsive, including inconsistent, applications due.
• March 23, 2022 (145 days after CP-KCS merger application filing): Responses to comments (including those of DOJ and DOT, if any), protests, requests for conditions, and other opposition due. Rebuttal in support of the primary application and any related application(s) due.
• March 28, 2022 (150 days after CP-KCS merger application filing): Notice of acceptance of responsive, including inconsistent, applications, if any, published in the Federal Register.
• April 22, 2022 (175 days after CP-KCS merger application filing): Responses to responsive, including inconsistent, applications due.
• May 22, 2022 (205 days after CP-KCS merger application filing): Rebuttals in support of responsive, including inconsistent, applications due.
• July 1, 2022 (245 days after CP-KCS merger application filing): Final briefs due.

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