R.L. Banks & Associates, Inc.
North American Railway Restructuring and Implications for Merger Policy

This paper was commissioned in relation to the Panel's consideration of the appropriateness of the current legislative and regulatory framework for dealing with the public policy requirements that may arise from newly emerging industry structures. The paper discusses the dimensions, causes and consequences of restructuring of North American railways in the past two decades and identifies the policy concerns arising from that experience, principally those associated with railway mergers. The principal conclusion is that further concentration of the North American railway industry should be permitted only under the most stringent guarantees that competition will not be eroded.