A look at how Canadian Pacific Railway stacks up against Norfolk Southern

Calgary-based Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. (TSX:CP) is aiming to take over U.S. peer Norfolk Southern Corp. in a stock-and-cash deal valued at US$28 billion. Here's a look at how the two railroads stack up against each other:

Network size:

Canadian Pacific: approximately 21,000 kilometres

Norfolk Southern: approximately 32,000 kilometres

Average employee count year-to-date in 2015 (as of third-quarter results):

Canadian Pacific: More than 14,000

Norfolk Southern: More than 30,000

Annual revenues in 2014:

Canadian Pacific: C$6.6 billion

Norfolk Southern: US$11.6 billion

Stock market value on NYSE on Wednesday:

Canadian Pacific: around US$21 billion

Norfolk Southern: around US$26 billion

Operating Ratio, a closely-watched measure of profitability by calculating operating expenses as a share of revenues (lower is better):

Canadian Pacific: 59.9 per cent

Norfolk Southern: 69.7 per cent