Go-Ahead

The Interstate Commerce Commission approved the historic merger of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central last year, only to see it tangled in legal challenges. Last week--a year later to the day--the ICC bestowed its blessing on a rail merger that it hopes will be consummated with minimum delay. Highballed to join on June 1 were the Chicago and North Western and the smaller Chicago Great Western, whose get-together could save the two lines $6,000,000 a year.

The ICC noted that the ailing Great Western's "limited traffic volume and capital" has prevented it from modernizing. By absorbing the line into the healthier North Western, that situation should be cured. The resulting line, retaining the name Chicago and North Western, would have 12,000 miles of track in eleven states. The merger would enable the two roads to discontinue several freight trains each and consolidate facilities at 28 points, including Chicago, Minneapolis--St. Paul and Des Moines. Not content with that, the North Western continues to hanker for control of both the Milwaukee Road and the Rock Island, just two of the sundry railroad-merger proposals still before the ICC.

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