Canadian Railroads > CN to sell hundreds of miles of non-core trackage

At its recent earnings presentation,
CN announced its plan to sell non-core trackage
in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ontario.
Trains Newswire reports that the line sale will total 850 miles.

Ghislain Houle, EVP and CFO
" these noncore lines came with -- when we bought the WC.
They're really noncore lines in Wisconsin, there were noncore lines in Michigan and noncore lines in Ontario. " 
" as these lines will continue to feed in into our main line and continue to -- and will continue to benefit from the long haul. "

JJ Ruest, President and CEO
" in some cases, short line operator could actually get capital from state province or government,
which we don't have access.
So, it's a better model for those noncore lines that we're selling. "

" these noncore lines came with -- when we bought the WC."

Then why did they buy the WC in the first palce ? 

They bought the WC to get a line north from Chicago to their track in Duluth.  Also access to Minneapolis.

Also noteworthy in the CN’s Q2 analyst call was the lack of any mention of CN acquisition of the CSX Massena line, which is either on hold pending STB getting the parties to strike/alter the anti-competitive language or dead. As there was no statement to the effect that CN believes the deal will happen, I’m guessing that they’re going to simply partner with CSX in that lane.

Posted from iPhone

CN acquired WC to close the Chicago to Duluth gap in their system. All other WC trackage except the mainline was considered excess by CN.

Posted from Android

That would suggest the Algoma Central (or portions of it) would be on the block then?  

How much traffic does CN move on the ex-ACR and on the ex-WC in Michigan's Upper Peninsula?

Magellan

Wonder if B&LE is also going to be on the auction block?

Posted from iPhone