Does anybody have any into about the recent CP stockholder vote? Will Hunter harrison run CP?
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Tony Ingram is on the new CP board? He had a long tenure in Jacksonsviile. This will become CSX of the North.
Originally Posted by OGR Webmaster:
Tony Ingram is on the new CP board? He had a long tenure in Jacksonsviile. This will become CSX of the North.
But is CSX getting bettter under the new CEO and the One Plan?
And the new CP board is looking at a possible strike by the workers.
Dominic:
Parliament can step in and stop a rail strike in Canada however, they ordinarily do not act as quickly as Congress does here in the U.S. I'd surmise one of the reasons for this is that Canadian labor law generally prohibits secondary strikes so, if one or two or three of the union crafts go out on strike, the other agreement people who do have a valid contract must cross the picket line and report to work. Here in the U.S., when one union goes on strike, the other brotherhoods will honor the striking union's picket line. This places exponentially more pressure on our politicians to act than the situation in Canada.
Too, I know that CN requires their management people in Canada to annually train in the various operating crafts so they can pull strike duty in the event of a strike. I'm not sure if CP does the same, but would imagine they do. This also relieves some of the pressure on Parliament to act as quickly as our Congress would.
Curt
Originally Posted by OGR Webmaster:
Tony Ingram is on the new CP board? He had a long tenure in Jacksonsviile. This will become CSX of the North.
And Rich, "CSX of the North"? Man, I sure hope not! Now, if Hunter and company want to run CP at the same level as he ran CN, I'll be one happy shipper.
Curt
the new CEO will still have to contend with Rogers Pass, Field Hill and other natural obstacles that the CN line has never had to deal with. I guess 2816 will be parked for good now.
Yes, the CN "suits" having to work on trains was one of those ideas of Hunter.
Now about hills: NS has Horseshoe, CSX has several in the east, BNSF has some on the old ATSF transcon and on the old GN, UP has all of the old SP, WP and DRGW.....
I think the only real comparison in "hills" would be SP's Donner Pass. The "Big Hill"(for example) west of the Great Divide is 2.2% with over 8 miles, thru the Spiral Tunnels. This section of mainline and TransCanada Highway, are prone to closures, due to rock slides. Same goes for the mainline all the way to Revelstoke.
Last year I was on vacation, just west of Field BC and there was a rock slide that closed the mainline and the TransCanada Highway for 2 days. The detour was going to be about an extra 300 or so miles to get back to Calgary, which was only 200 miles away.
There was one derailment in the Upper Spiral Tunnel, back in the 90's, where the line was closed for over a week.
CP trains were diverted over CN's line thru Edmonton.
Back to the impending strike, it will not affect commuter service in Montreal, Toronto or Vancouver.
I hope 2816 will not be a victim of this takeover.
Fred Green(CEO) and 2 of his advisors, apparently walked into the meeting and just handed in their resignations, thus handing over power to Pershing Square.
I am not excited about this, but this is business. Not sure how the new group is going to do away with all the natural obstacles that have challenged CP in the past.
Time will tell.....Al
Certainly an interesting situation.
I have to wonder about the mind of the shareholders. CP was said to be poorly run, but the stock price over the last year ranged from $44 to $79 and was in the mid $70's just before the change in management. Publisher Rich noted above that one of the new leading lights brought in was from CSX whose stock ranged from $18 to $27 over the last year and is trading around $20 today.
Sounds like this is another example of a financial speculator coming in to loot a company.
Tony
Up on "The D & H Bridge Line"
Tony:
Tony Ingram has joined CP strictly as a director. I would be surprised if his role goes beyond that. Stephen Tobias, who worked with Ingram while both were with NS, is the acting CEO at this point in time. He is also one of the new directors and will, presumably, revert to that role only once the board names a new CEO.
From a carload shipper's perspective, CP under Fred Green was much worse to deal with than CN under Paul Tellier, Hunter Harrison or currently under Claude Mongeau.
Part of this may simply be that CN and CP are two different kinds of railroads. While both handle "loose car freight", manifest freight trains are CN's bread and butter. CP, on the other hand, trends more toward unit trains of potash, coal, sulfur or grain, so loose car freight takes a back seat.
When/if the new CP board names Hunter as the CEO of Canadian Pacific, it will be interesting to watch what happens. Although I'd certainly be rooting for Hunter to make CP as efficient as he made CN; in the back of my mind I wonder if his scheduled railroad philosophy can work on a railroad built around unit trains. After all, a unit train doesn't run until the shipper has it loaded or the receiver has it unloaded. Hunter will almost certainly have to change the culture and mindset, not only of CP's employees, but also of their unit train customers. It is the latter, I believe, that presents the greatest risk.
Curt
If HH is in:
1. More directional running with CN, as in BC.
2. Those unit trains will be loaded, waiting to go, with a bow on it.
