Canadian Pacific Railway urges US probe into merger opponents

Canadian Pacific Railway said Tuesday it has asked the US justice department to investigate its rivals for seeking to block its proposed acquisition of American railway Norfolk Southern, calling their tactics anti-competitive.

In a letter made public, CP asked for a review of "recent actions by a number of major US railroads who have stated publicly that they are organizing a collective campaign" against the merger.

It called the move by "a number of large" rivals to try to block a new entrant in the US market and protect their business "unprecedented" and their collective efforts to sway customers, the media, and others to their point of view "illegal because it is anti-competitive."

The letter and supporting documents mention only two firms, CSX and Union Pacific, as hostile to a CP-Norfolk merger.

CP in November offered to buy Norfolk for $28 billion but the offer was rejected. It has insisted that the merger would enhance competition in the railway industry.

The merger of the two companies would create a pan-North American railway that proponents said would help to alleviate freight bottlenecks, notably at a Chicago rail hub. Opponents fear it will lead to rising freight costs.

Canadian Pacific has 22,000 kilometers (14,000 miles) of track in Canada and the United States while Norfolk has 32,000 kilometers of track, largely in the southeastern United States.