Rail crash fallout

Article Excerpt

The July 6, 2013 derailment and explosion of a train in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec has implications for both CP and TransCanada (see left). CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY LTD. $129 (Toronto symbol CP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 175.0 million; Market cap: $22.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.9; Dividend yield: 1.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.cpr.ca) expects to ship 70,000 carloads of crude oil in 2013, up sharply from just 13,000 in 2011. However, the crash could hurt the oil-by-rail boom. (Note: Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Ltd., operated the train involved in the crash, not CP.) It seems likely that regulators will require railways to replace their current tanker cars with models that can better withstand collisions. They may also demand that railways place more workers on their trains, and install automatic-braking equipment. Installing new equipment could make it harder for CP to achieve its cost-cutting targets. The company aims to cut its operating ratio from 75.8% in the first…