SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — BNSF Railway CEO Katie Farmer still doesn’t see further rail industry consolidation as inevitable if a Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger is approved.
Just the fact that the topic keeps being discussed could be taken as an argument against the merger, Farmer said in a conversation with Trains prior to her appearance today (Jan. 14) at the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers winter meeting.
“I can only tell you from BNSF’s perspective that our owner has been very clear that we have no interest in acquiring another railroad,” Farmer said of Berkshire Hathaway. “And I also think that what’s really important is why customers are asking that question. They’re asking that question because they see the market imbalance that would happen if this were allowed to go through. And BNSF shouldn’t be viewed as having an obligation to correct an anticompetitive transaction.”
Farmer also referenced the fact that the UP-NS merger application does not specifically address the impact on rail-to-rail competition. Other Class I railroads made this point in filings urging the Surface Transportation Board to reject the application as incomplete [see “Competing railroads say UP-NS merger application omits …,” Trains.com, Dec. 20, 2025].
“With the new merger rules that were contemplated in 2000, it’s important to know that they were contemplated for rail customers,” she said. “It doesn’t pass the giggle test to say that back in 2001, after we were coming out of mergers that caused chaos in the rail industry, that we were setting new merger standards for customers who weren’t even rail customers.”
“So we’re conflating the idea that public interest and enhanced competition, that those two have different standards. Do I agree that driving efficiency is a good thing? Of course I do. But our intermodal trains spend less than an hour in interchange. That’s not why freight is not converting from over the road.”
During Farmer’s “fireside chat” with Monica Freeman, director of rail transportation for agribusiness company CHS Inc., the BNSF CEO did touch on topics other than the merger. Among them:
Cross-border crews: Farmer said she believes BNSF, CPKC, and Union Pacific are in agreement that using crews from Mexican railroads to bring trains into the U.S. “is more effective from a throughput standpoint,” although BNSF is not currently doing so at the Eagle Pass and El Paso, Texas, gateways, due to Federal Railroad Administration regulations.
“The reason we’re not doing it today is unfortunately our yard falls just outside the 10 miles” allowed for such cross-border crews, she said. “So we are working closely with the FRA to try to get a waiver to allow international crews to come over the bridge. I think that’s a really effective thing that we should all want in a supply chain.”
The FRA increased enforcement of rules regarding cross-border crews in December after inspections found that some crews lacked sufficient proficiency in English [see “FRA steps up enforcement …,” Trains.com, Dec. 19, 2025]. CPKC and UP both received warning letters about possible government action as a result.
“Obviously, given the parameters, we all need to do it the right way, in a safe way,” Farmer said. “But from an efficiency perspective, we are focused on that as well. … It’s interchanging on the bridge and going forward, nobody wants to consume that capacity.”
Capital spending: While BNSF has not yet released its 2026 capital plan, Farmer said it will “look a lot like last year,” when BNSF spent $3.8 billion, mostly on maintenance of infrastructure.
“It takes several billion dollars to maintain a railroad our size,” she said. “You’re going to see us continue to invest in making it easier to do business with us. We’re going to continue to invest in safety. We’re going to continue to invest in transparency for the customer as far as really addressing … being more responsive, figuring out how to give a better, more reliable product.”
Thursday at MARS
The MARS winter meeting concludes on Thursday morning with a session kicked off by Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena, who likely will look to counter comments made on Wednesday by Farmer and CPKC CEO Keith Creel. Also on the agenda is a talk by Canadian National Chief Commercial Officer Janet Drysdale and a panel discussion on short lines featuring R.J. Corman CEO Justin Broyles; Jon Carnes, CEO of Transtar and the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway; Michael Miller, CEO at Genesee & Wyoming; and Joe Parsons, CEO at Iowa Interstate.
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