It's official: CP, KCS are now CPKC

Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern today formally combined to create Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), as authorized by the Surface Transportation Board's final decision issued March 15.

The merger creates the first single-line railway connecting Canada, the United States and Mexico.

"Today, we celebrate this historic combination creating a truly unique single-line rail network that begins a new chapter of railroad history in North America," said CPKC President and CEO Keith Creel in a press release. "As we mark this once-in-a-lifetime occasion by driving the final spike in Kansas City, Missouri, where CP and KCS come together, we stand ready to bring new competition into the North American rail industry at a time when our supply chains have never needed it more."

CP completed its $31 billion acquisition of KCS on Dec. 14, 2021. KCS shares were then placed into a voting trust, which ensured that KCS operated independently of CP during the regulatory review process. Today, the voting trustee transferred the KCS shares to an affiliate of CP, formally bringing KCS into the CPKC family.

In Kansas City today, the company will mark the start of CPKC at a celebration featuring the driving of the ceremonial final spike at the only place where the CP and KCS railroads meet. CPKC will also break ground on a new yard office, the future location of the U.S. operations center. CPKC’s corporate headquarters are in Calgary, Alberta.

CPKC plans capital investments in new infrastructure of more than $275 million over the next three years to improve rail safety and the capacity of the core north-south CPKC main line between the upper Midwest and Louisiana.

Also today, the company announced the appointment of four new board directors. As required by the merger agreement, the four appointees were members of the former KCS board.

They are: David Garza-Santos, a KCS director since 2016 and a business and community leader in Monterrey, N.L. Mexico; Antonio Garza, a KCS director since 2010 and former U.S. ambassador to Mexico; Henry Maier, a KCS director since 2017 and former president and CEO of FedEx Ground; and Janet Kennedy, a KCS director since 2017 and a former vice president at Google.

The four directors will be nominated for election to CPKC's board at its annual general meeting to be held June 15.