Reactions to the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger filing began collecting shortly after the 6,992-page, four-volume document was released early Friday, with most expressing skepticism about the benefits of the first transcontinental merger.
Trade groups representing shippers, which had previously indicated concerns about the merger, have issued renewed statements of opposition.
Chet Thompson, president and CEO of the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, said in a statement that while his group needs “competitive, efficient, and reliable rail networks … decades of bad service and price increases in the wake of freight rail consolidation leave us and other carload shippers highly skeptical of this merger. Unless the Surface Transportation Board can demonstrate conclusively that it will enhance competition across all modes of transport — especially between railroads — this merger application should be denied.”
Alliance for Chemical Distribution CEO Eric Byer’s statement said his organization “strongly opposes this merger proposal as it will expand monopolistic control of freight rail at the expense of America’s crucial chemical supply chain.”
The Fertilizer Institute’s statement said the fertilizer industry faces “a take-it-or-leave-it” approach from railroads, and seeks a balanced relationship between carriers and shippers. “While we are still reviewing today’s STB filing,” the statement reads, “it is difficult to see how any coast-to-coast merger would improve this imbalance or meet the standard set out in the Surface Transportation Board’s merger rules.”
The first elected official to weigh in was U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis). In a press release, she said, “Approving this merger would take us in the wrong direction – stifling competition, worsening service, and raising costs on consumers and businesses who are already facing growing headwinds because of the Trump Administration.”
A statement from U.S. Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said the railroads’ promise in the merger application “to significantly invest in a more efficient rail network, increase safety, and enhance competition is encouraging. However, with a merger of this size, I want to ensure the STB is deliberative in assessing what potential effects this would have on the system as a whole.”
Union reaction to the merger has been split, and on Friday, the American Train Dispatchers Association joined those against the merger. The organization cited confirmed job losses among dispatchers, potential relocation of its members in Atlanta, and what it called “unresolved safety and workforce concerns embedded in the merger application.” The application projects a net loss of 33 dispatching jobs.
“These job losses are not a coincidence,” ATDA President Ed Dowell said in a statement. “They are intentionally built into the merger plan and tied directly to expanding dispatcher territories and consolidating operational control by leveraging unregulated technologies. These cuts, driven by Wall Street, jeopardize the very safety and efficiency the railroads claim to improve. … We will not support this merger as long as it is paid for at the expense of our members’ livelihoods or the safety of the general public.”
— To report news or errors, contact trainsnewswire@firecrown.com.
The fundamental problem is the UP’s sketchy merger history. Those with short memories may wish to do some research.
These groups don’t care about anything they protest against, they only care about making more money and themselves. UP/NS could be the greatest thing since White bread if they don’t get an advantage out of it then it is bad. That is why the STB must rule on these things based on the actual facts, not the opposition’s suppositions that they will be hurt. They stand to make money in this deal by eliminating delay and having a more flexible system but to them, the “Chicken Littles” of the world, “The sky is falling, the sky is falling!” Me thinks they dost protest too much… Change is difficult to accept. If they were handed USDA prime steak cooked to perfection on a platter, their natural instinct would be to find something wrong with it, rather than enjoy the meal. This transaction makes as much since as the initial great transcontinental railroad of the 1860’s did, and will deliver probably the same success. But not if the of “Chicken Littles”
of the country get their way… “The sky is falling, the sky is falling!” Oh my…
Exactly, Vince. People commenting on these pages have identified the plusses and the minuses of this proposed merger. What’s left to do is for each stakeholder to maneuver for merger conditions best suited to its needs or its wants.
If everybody, especially thoose who stand to benefit, are against it Charles, it must be a better thing that most are willing to admit, or so it seems
Naturally the application makes bold promises about efficiency, customer service, reduced costs and GFE (goodies for everybody). I suggest that, if approved, the agreement should require both fines and jail time for officials of both railroads when any claims are not fully fulfilled during the merger implementation. Didn’t the UP almost collapse during an earlier merger integration? We need ways to keep all claims honest, with thorough follow-through by the newly merged company.
Every railroad has had problems in mergers. Look at the great Penn Central fiasco. Two groups of supposedly smart people doing everything they could do to torpedo the other group they worked with. There is always some little aspect that seems small but ends up being big, With UP, the horrible condition of the SP and the rather arrogant attitude of UP CEO Dick Davidson about what he would have done…”Hit it with a hammer…” only belies the facts that no one really knew how bad of shape the SP was operationally in and it was not going to be a simple transaction. Everyone has to work together, the purchaser AND the purchasee, to ensure that things happen carefully and for the combined success of the entire venture. In fact it is the only way something this big will succeed.
I don’t blame NS dispatchers for being in opposition. It wasn’t so long ago many were uprooted and moved to Atlanta. Dispatcher territories are growing in size and complexity. Not unusual for a crew to wait a long time for a dispatcher to answer a call. And if it’s Christmas when everything is shut down, forget about it. I was running Amtrak 48 out of Chicago one Christmas night to see some of Chicago’s finest citizens looting containers east of Englewood. I toned up the dispatcher and. never got a response. As we were the only train running I’m sure our route was set all the way to South Bend and the dispatcher had gone to wherever dispatchers go on nights like that.