The Surface Transportation Board of the United States has approved Canadian Pacific Railway’s $31 billion US deal to buy Kansas City Southern.
Ir creates the first railway company link from Mexico to Canada.
The transportation board imposed a number of environmental and competition conditions, including seven years of oversight requiring reporting of data.
The deal combines the sixth- and seventh-largest railroads operating in the U.S. by revenue, is projected to add 800 new unionized operational jobs in the U.S. and will shorten the average length of trains by just under 20 per cent.
Some farming groups have expressed concerns about declining rail-industry competition.
