Pizza Pizza isn’t the only Canadian entity heading to Mexico. Soon, Canadian railcars will be making like us on Spring Break and taking trips down south.
What happened: Canadian National Railway is rolling out a shipping service that will carry freight from its Canadian origin points to Mexico, Canada’s third-largest trade partner. It’s called Falcon Premium, which, frankly, makes it sound way cooler than it actually is.
Falcon Premium arrives a month after Canadian Pacific Railway (now CPKC), the Federer to CN’s Nadal, received approval for its US$31 billion merger with Kansas City Southern—a union that created the first single-line railway connecting Canada, the US, and Mexico.
- CP Rail’s acquisition of KCS was contentious, to say the least. KCS originally signed a merger agreement with CN Rail, but the deal was scuttled by US regulators. KCS went on to terminate the merger agreement and accepted a bid from CP Rail instead.
Why it matters: Canadian railways already move ~$350 billion worth of goods each year, per the Railway Association of Canada. With trade between Canada and Mexico set to grow, rail will play a big role in keeping key Canadian exports like grain and lumber flowing.—QH