"30-40% of the United States economy depends on a well-functioning railroad," Oberman said in the Wednesday press conference. That's why the STB has been"railing about some of the rail service problems and issues affecting the rail industry," he said.
To ensure affected communities remain safe, commuter rail moves on time, and shippers retain efficient interline options,"We have instituted an unprecedented seven-year oversight period" to the proposed merger, Oberman said, noting the STB never allotted more than five years in the past to collect post-merger data and address issues.
Despite the woes of past consolidation, with a 4-1 vote, the STB"found that putting these two railroads together at this point in the country's history will" create"a stronger competitive force" in the economy, Oberman said. A transnational single-line from Canada to Mexico through the United States"will enhance trade, enhance productivity, enhance shipper opportunities to expand their own businesses," he said.
Oberman also argued shippers would not lose any existing rail competition from the merger. Not only will the merger of CP and KCS result in the smallest of the major railroads,"there will be no loss of a parallel competitive route" because their routes do not overlap, he said. "If it all sounds too good to be true, we are in agreement," Robert Primus, the one STB board member who voted against the merger, wrote in his dissent from the board's decision. He argued that market concentration allows companies to extract rents, wield heightened political power, and exploit workers, finding Big Rail to be no exception.