Canadian Pacific CEO says regulators might approve a merger but talks with CSX fell apart

The CEO of Canadian Pacific thinks U.S. regulators would approve a well-structured railroad merger, but nothing is planned now that talks with CSX ended.

CEO Hunter Harrison said Tuesday he doesn't agree with the view that the Surface Transportation Board wouldn't approve any merger.

Harrison said merging the Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. with CSX Corp. could have improved service by routing traffic around the bottlenecks in Chicago.

And Harrison says giving railroads access to customers on other rail networks would improve competition.

But Harrison says CP officials and CSX found they couldn't agree on several issues, so talks ended after several meetings.

Officials at Jacksonville, Florida-based CSX have declined to comment on reports on the possible deal.

The other large railroads include Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific, BNSF and Canadian National.