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WASHINGTON — The ongoing dispute between Metra and Union Pacific over commuter rail operations in the Chicago area was back before the Surface Transportation Board as the board resumed activity following the shutdown of the federal government. Both parties filed a joint status report on negotiations today (Nov. 13), while Metra offered a fairly brief […]
A Union Pacific intermodal train heads east through Lombard, Ill., on Oct. 11, 2025. Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena this week responded to a BNSF claim that a UP-Norfolk Southern merger would lead to the elimination of 300 intermodal lanes. David Lassen A back-and-forth exchange this week between the CEOs of Union Pacific and BNSF […]
CHICAGO — Commuters arriving today (Nov. 12) at the Ogilvie Transportation Center in downtown Chicago — the former Chicago & North Western commuter terminal that serves Metra’s UP North, Northwest, and West lines — today may have been a bit surprised to find a train on Track 6 that was definitely not the usual Metra […]
Trains Turntable: Commentary from Martin J. Oberman The proposed Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger continues to dominate the news as well as conversation at all gatherings — formal and informal — in the railroad universe. Unfortunately, because of a few unrelated actions in the political world, along with repeated spin by self-interested parties, there is a […]
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific has announced an agreement with the National Conference of Firemen and Oilers to ensure job security for members of the union if UP’s proposed merger with Norfolk Southern is approved. The agreement announced today (Nov. 10, 2025) commits that hundreds of NCFO members employed at the time of the merger […]
WASHINGTON — Surface Transportation Board nominees Richard Kloster and Michelle Schultz assured senators on Thursday that they will judge Union Pacific’s proposed acquisition of Norfolk Southern on the merits — and will not allow politics to influence their decisions on the largest merger in railroad history. Kloster and Schultz spoke during a hearing of the […]
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Approximately two dozen cars of a Union Pacific freight train derailed early Monday (Nov. 3) in Hutchinson, sending auto racks down an embankment and closing one lane of a state highway. The derailment occurred about 1 a.m. The Hays Post reports that the railroad said in a statement that there were no […]
WASHINGTON — The conductor of a Union Pacific train was standing in a track adjacent to his train for an unknown reason when he was struck and killed by a Metra train, the National Transportation Safety Board said in its final investigation report on the Sept. 4, 2024, accident in Kenosha, Wis. The incident occurred […]
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of U.S. senators have asked the Surface Transportation Board to conduct a “rigorous and comprehensive evaluation” of the proposed Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger, expressing concern about its impact on agricultural producers and its possible impact on competition. “Already highly consolidated, the current landscape of railroads as it exists today represents […]
WASHINGTON — The International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers-Transportation Division has reached a tentative agreement with Union Pacific, the labor union announced Friday, Oct. 31. The agreement’s basic terms are the same as in the national agreement just ratified by SMART-TD members [see “SMART-TD ratifies …,” Trains.com, Oct. 30, 2025]. It […]
OAK BROOK, Ill. — Hub Group sees the opportunity to gain 2.5 million intermodal loads from the watershed area in the country’s midsection if the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger is approved. The watershed, the area within a few hundred miles of the Mississippi River that also is the de facto dividing line between the big […]
Eager to tie the knot, Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern have asked federal regulators for a faster review of their proposed transcontinental merger, Trains has learned. The Surface Transportation Board in September proposed a roughly 390-day schedule to review the railroads’ $85 billion deal. The calendar includes wiggle room that would allow the board to […]
