Calgary Alberta - Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) is asking the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate whether its competitors are working together to block its proposed acquisition of Norfolk Southern Corporation (NS), a move it calls "unprecedented" and "likely illegal."
 
In a letter addressed to the Justice Department's Antitrust Division, CP says recent media reports indicate other major U.S. railroads are "organizing a collective campaign" to block CP's proposed deal, which NS has repeatedly rejected.
 
"CP believes it is unfortunate that the company must take the very serious step of writing to the Department of Justice but ultimately concluded the unprecedented action of major competitors organizing to block a new entrant from enhancing competition to the U.S. merited the attention of the antitrust authorities," the railway said in a statement Tuesday.
 
Last week, Reuters quoted executives from CSX, Union Pacific, and BNSF as saying they have met to discuss the proposed merger.
 
"We haven't had any new consensus come out of this," the news agency quoted CSX chief executive Michael Ward as saying.
 
"To be honest, we've had one or two discussions but we were all against mergers to begin with."
 
Ward was also quoted as saying mergers could be "destructive of shareholder value".
 
In its letter to the Justice Department, CP said this shows that its competitors are more worried about what a merger will mean for their own competitive position, as opposed to what it would mean for the public.
 
CP has argued from the beginning that a merger with NS will enhance competition in the North American rail industry.
 
"The collective communication strategy of these competitor railroads is also likely illegal because it is anti-competitive, it is an agreement to collectively work together to prohibit the introduction of competition by a new competitor, which is akin to a group boycott in principle and intended effect," CP wrote in its letter.
 
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