The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division has a long and vocal history of concern for mergers within the railroad industry. That’s why it was a surprise when the DOJ didn’t pipe up during a September meeting involving Canadian Pacific’s acquisition of Kansas City Southern.
However in a letter this week,the DOJ is setting the record straight that it still has concerns about the impact merger, present or not.
Back in April, the DOJ asked the board to pay attention the potential reduction in railroad competition, cutback in technology investment and further concentration of the industry.
During the Surface Transportation Board's Sept. 28 hearing, economist W. Robert Majure pointed out that the Antitrust Division was nowhere to be found.
“Their absence from these proceedings tells me that they don’t agree with these comments," Majure said.
"No such inference should be drawn," wrote the crew of DOJ attorneys. "The Antitrust Division emphasizes that the Board should not interpret the Antitrust Division’s absence from the Board’s September 2022 proceedings to imply otherwise.During the Surface Transportation Board's September 28 hearing,
Towns in eastern Iowa are anticipated to see the highest rail traffic increases nationally. An environmental study estimated an additional 15 trains per day, on average.
