I found this article informative, if not a little confusing:
The company's acquisitions and initiatives of the early 1990s were largely overshadowed by CSX's attempted purchase of Conrail Inc., which began in October 1996. The 1990s had already seen the mega-mergers of Burlington Northern and Santa Fe to form Burlington Northern Santa Fe and of Union Pacific and Southern Pacific (whereby Union Pacific Corp. absorbed Southern Pacific). It appeared that Conrail and CSX would form the nation's largest railroad--including Conrail's lucrative routes to New York City--when Conrail agreed to CSX's $8.1 billion friendly takeover offer. But Norfolk Southern Corp.--CSX's archrival and a fellow eastern U.S. rail power that had twice before attempted to buy Conrail--stepped in with a $9.1 billion hostile takeover bid, prompting CSX in November to raise its offer to $8.4 billion. By March 1996, after Norfolk had raised its bid twice more, CSX, Norfolk, and Conrail reached a three-way agreement for a $10.2 billion takeover, with CSX paying $4.3 billion for 42 percent of Conrail's operations and Norfolk paying $5.9 billion for the other 58 percent. Although the outcome was less than the full merger originally sought, CSX would still gain about 4,500 miles of rail--including lines to New York, Boston, and Montreal--giving it a 23,000-mile system in 23 states and the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Pending approval by the Surface Transportation Board which was expected sometime in 1998, CSX and Norfolk Southern would operate the two dominant railroads in the eastern United States, with CSX having a slight edge over the 21,000-mile Norfolk system and thus remaining the nation's third-largest railroad.
An increasing concern in the rapidly consolidating railroad industry of the mid-1990s was whether the mergers were compromising the system's safety. In the midst of CSX's seeking of regulatory approval of the Conrail takeover, a jury in New Orleans awarded damages of $3.37 billion, including $2.5 billion in punitive damages, against CSX in relation to a 1987 chemical-car fire. This September 1997 judgement was overturned two months later by the Louisiana Supreme Court, which sent it back to a lower court for reconsideration. CSX's safety record came under further fire when the Federal Railroad Administration issued a report in October 1997 criticizing CSX's safety procedures. The agency had started an investigation earlier in the year, following a collision between two CSX trains which killed one employee and injured another. The company paid $750,000 in fines for violations uncovered in the inquiry. More controversially, CSX Transportation hired the Federal Railroad Administration's safety chief shortly after release of the report, leading to criticism from safety advocates.
Assuming regulatory approval of the Conrail breakup, the consolidation of the company's newly acquired assets was likely to be CSX's number one priority into the 21st century. Just as the problems that resulted from the Penn Central merger led to the careful meshing of operations in previous CSX mergers, the kind of snafus encountered in the Union Pacific takeover of Southern Pacific would need to be avoided if CSX and Norfolk were to successfully divide Conrail. With the negotiation of the Conrail deal completed, the following question arose among industry observers--was railroad consolidation finally over? The next step, some felt, was the creation of two coast-to-coast giants, with CSX joining with either Southern Pacific or Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Norfolk Southern joining with the remaining partner. Whether or not further consolidation occurred, CSX was certain to remain at the center of the dynamic railroad industry.http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/CSX-Corporation-Company-History.htmlWow! :crazy: Guess that's why I don't run a railroad!
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