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March 29, 2000 10:30 AM, EST

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. appealed a Surface Transportation Board moratorium on railroad mergers that would delay for more than a year consideration of the carrier’s proposed consolidation with Canadian National Railway.

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The BNSF challenge was filed with the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on March 20. CN filed a separate appeal in the same court on March 17, the day the STB moratorium was announced.

The STB put a 15-month hold on rail mergers in a ruling that came after a four-day hearing during which 160 witnesses, including shippers, members of Congress and spokesmen for the other railroads, urged the agency to “go slow” in approving the BNSF-CN merger, the latest in a series of deals in the consolidating railroad industry.

BNSF and CN announced their intention to combine on Dec. 20 and touched off a storm of protest from both shippers and other railroads, many of whom cited ongoing difficulties resulting from mergers in 1996 and 1999.

For the full story, see the Mar. 27 print edition of Transport Topics. .