FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF CEO Katie Farmer says the railroad’s initial review of the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger application filed today “does not change BNSF’s opposition to the proposed merger.”
In a statement issued today (Dec. 19), Farmer says the deal “poses a significant threat to the U.S. economy and the American consumer through its long-term competitive harms. It would leave shippers with fewer options — driving higher rates and ultimately higher prices for consumers.” Farmer says the benefits “appear to accrue primarily to shareholders. Past mergers demonstrate the risk of serious service failures with destructive impacts to customers, the U.S. rail network, and the American economy.
“This is precisely why the STB strengthened its merger rules: applicants must now prove their deal will not only preserve but enhance competition; that it serves the public interest, and its purported benefits can’t be delivered through partnerships. BNSF is confident that UP has not met these requirements.”
BNSF has questioned whether UP had complied with conditions of its merger with Southern Pacific [see “BNSF asks STB to review …,” Trains.com, Dec. 1, 2025], and Farmer says “UP has a long history of making promises in past mergers that they back away from once they’ve secured approval.” She said BNSF “remains focused on achieving these same benefits through partnership and collaboration which results in streamlined service, and greater operational flexibility — delivering real, immediate benefits to customers.”
Farmer said BNSF will have more to say about the merger application “soon.”
CPKC review of application continuing
CPKC said in a statement that it “will be thoroughly reviewing” the merger application in the coming days, and will examine it from “at least two perspectives: Whether it complies with the Board’s 2001 Major Merger Rules and provides the STB and interested parties an adequate basis for evaluating the public-interest consequences of the UP-NS proposal, (and) whether the UP-NS proposal is consistent with the public interest.”
CPKC said approval “is not inevitable” — echoing an earlier comment by CEO Keith Creel [see “Creel warns UP-NS merger is no’ fait accompli,’” Dec. 2, 2025].
It calls the UP-NS merger “unprecedented in scale and scope” and says it would “radically and permanently change the U.S. rail network. If approved, the merger would pose extraordinary and far-reaching risks to customers, rail employees, and broader supply change.” CPKC said it will “remain an active participant” in the evaluation of the merger and called on other stakeholders to “express their views about how this proposed merger would affect their business.”
— Updated at noon CT with CPKC statement. To report news or errors, contact trainsnewswire@firecrown.com.
First get rid of Hi-Viz attendance policy Farmer..