A merger between two of the largest railroads in North America is set to go forward after a board controlled by appointees of President Joe Biden ignored the administration’s push against corporate concentration.
The Surface Transportation Board approved the merger of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern, the sixth- and seventh-biggest railroads on the continent. The merger will create a new railroad stretching from Vancouver to Nova Scotia, all the way down to Veracruz, a port on the Gulf of Mexico. It will be the first merger of two Class I railroads ― industry-speak for the largest rail companies ― in two decades.
The decision will bitterly disappoint both progressives and environmentalists, who fear it will both increase demand for Canadian oil and lead to the same type of cost-cutting favored by Wall Street that some have linked to the toxic derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
The Surface Transportation Board has five members, three of them appointed by Biden. But…
