WASHINGTON — The Freight Rail Customer Alliance today said that it’s opposed to the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger, arguing that the transcontinental combination would lead to higher costs and unreliable service.
The umbrella group, which represents more than 3,500 electric utility, agricultural, chemical, and alternative fuel companies, called for “guaranteed competitive solutions” for carload and unit train shippers.
“In the end, shippers, particularly captive shippers, need guaranteed competitive solutions that are workable, effective, and enforced by the STB,” Emily Regis, the group’s president, said in a statement. “Even if this imperative can be achieved in a transcontinental merger, there are concerns about how long it would take for the improvements to be successfully implemented and whether the integration problems and service meltdowns of past mergers can be avoided.”
The Surface Transportation Board’s 2001 merger review rules require railroads to show that their combination would enhance competition — not merely preserve it — and to be in the public interest.
Consolidation in the industry has tilted the playing field in favor of railroads, FRCA says, citing contracts that fall outside of the STB’s jurisdiction and don’t provide shippers protection from service failures or increased fees.
“Any efficiencies achieved under so-called Precision Scheduled Railroading have not been passed through to shippers — only retained by the railroads and their shareholders, to Wall Street’s applause,” FRCA spokeswoman Ann Warner said.
The group says it will provide comments to regulators once the railroads’ merger application is filed. UP and NS have told the STB they plan to file their application on or before Jan. 29, 2026.
